U.S. Women's hockey team dominates Russian Olympic Committee, now 2-0 in Beijing

Team USA moved to 2-0 in the Beijing Olympic women's hockey tournament after a dominant 5-0 win against the Russian Olympic Committee on Saturday.

Defender Savannah Harmon had a goal and two assists. Forward Hilary Knight added a goal and an assist, moving past Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato into fourth place on the career Olympic scoring list for the U.S. She now has 20 career points. Knights is now three points behind Katie King for third all-time. It was Team USA's first game without star forward Brianna Decker, who is out for the tournament with a leg injury. She was stretched off the ice in their tournament-opening win against Finland on Thursday.

The U.S. faces Switzerland on Sunday before their highly anticipated showdown with archrival Canada on Tuesday.

For the second straight game, the Americans held a gigantic shot advantage over their opponents. The outshot ROC 62-12, and have now outshot their opponents 114-24.

The U.S. broke through 12:29 into the game, as Knight sent a near no-look pass to defender Savannah Harmon for the 1-0 lead. Critically, the goal came in the power play, where the U.S. national team struggled mightily in last year's world championships, going just 3-for-25. The Americans have now scored power-play goals in both of their Olympic preliminary games.

The U.S. held a shot advantage through the first two periods, outshooting ROC 36-6 after 40 minutes. But the margin remained just one goal before Hilary Knight's goal 8:51 into the second period gave Team USA some critical breathing room and a 2-0 lead. She deflected a point shot from Harmon.

«Whenever you can make it messy in front, put pucks on net, you get an opportunity to score. We're not getting the puck like that we'd like, but you