Poulin leads Canada to rematch with USA

Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals and became Canada’s all-time women’s Olympic goal-scorer in Canada’s 2-1 win over Switzerland to secure Canada’s spot in the gold medal game.

The win will set up a rematch with the United States on Thursday for the gold medal. The Americans beat Sweden 5-0 earlier in the day in their semi-final.

Poulin, who hurt her right knee earlier in the tournament, has three goals in her two games since returning.

Her Montreal Victoire teammate Ann-Renée Desbiens made seven saves in the win. Brändli made 44 saves for Switzerland.

It was a scoreless first period, despite Canada outshooting the Swiss 13-1.

In a game like that, the first goal is very important. It either gets the underdog momentum, or it allows everybody to take a breath.

Poulin led her team into the fight.

In the second period, Poulin had a strong shift, with two chances from the slot that were saved by Andrea Brändli, but her third shot deflected into the net to give Canada the 1-0 lead.

Less than seven minutes later, she scored her second of the game and third of the tournament.

Switzerland cut the lead to 2-1 after a turnover in the defensive zone and poor coverage led to a goal from Rahel Enzler after a pass from Alina Müller. A late Swiss penalty with 1:52 remaining made it difficult to push for the equalizer with the goaltender pulled.

In the other semi-final, the US opened a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes on a goal from Cayla Barnes. The floodgates opened in the second, as they scored four goals including three in a span of 2:47. Taylor Heise, Abbey Murphy, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, and Victoire forward Hayley Scamurra were the scorers.

Aerin Frankel made 23 saves for her third shutout of the Olympics, a new record.

The United States are 6-0 heading into the gold medal game, and have only allowed one goal so far in the tournament, in their opening game against Czechia.