U.S. women's hockey defeats Finland, set for Olympic gold-medal showdown vs. Canada

The U.S. will battle Canada for women's ice hockey gold at the Beijing Olympics after its 4-1 semifinal win over Finland on Monday.

Team USA will seek its second straight Olympic gold against archrival Canada (11:10 p.m. ET Wednesday). Canada rolled through Switzerland 10-3 in the semifinals and has outscored its opponents 54-8 — including a 4-2 win over the U.S. in the preliminary round.

The U.S. and Canada have faced each other in six of the seven Olympic women's hockey finals. Canada has won gold four times.

Finland, which will face Switzerland for the bronze medal, put up an impressive fight in the semifinal. Goalie Anni Keisala made 38 saves, confidently keeping her team in the game. On the U.S. side, Alex Cavallini (25 saves) didn't have the same quantity of saves but made some quality ones, including a spectacular stop on Finnish forward Michelle Karvinen on a 2-on-1 late in the first period to keep the game scoreless.

In the second period, forward Hilary Knight gave the U.S. some breathing room and made history in the process. The Americans finally hit the board on the power play 3:29 into the second period, as forward Hannah Brandt found defender Cayla Barnes wide-open on the right side of the Finland net for a goal. Knight had the secondary assist to tie Natalie Darwitz for second-most career Olympic points by an American woman with 25.

Knight broke that tie on a goal with 1:07 left in the second period as Team USA's top line converted. Kendall Coyne Schofield outworked Finland's defense to win a loose puck in the corner, setting up a sequence that ended with Knight scoring from just in front of the Finland crease for the 2-0 lead.

The U.S. had a 33-7 shot advantage and a 4-0 lead after two periods in the