USA women beat Finland to set up Canada Olympic final showdown

Reigning Olympic champions USA defeated Finland 4-1 on Monday (14 February) to reach the final of the women's ice hockey tournament at Beijing 2022.

After a scoreless first period, Finland goalie Anni Keisala was finally beaten with 23:39 gone as Cayla Barnes scored on the power play.

Hilary Knight and Hayley Scamurra increased the lead before Susanna Tapani pulled one back inside the final minute, but Abby Roque completed the scoring with just five seconds remaining.

The United States outshot the Finns 45 to 26 with their pressure finally telling in the second period.

It was job done for Team USA although Canada, their opponents in Thursday's gold medal game, made far lighter work of Finland when they beat them 11-1 in the preliminary round.

Finland meet Switzerland in the bronze medal match on Wednesday.

READ | Great Olympic Rivalries: USA-Canada Women's Ice Hockey

The match was evenly poised in the first period with neither side able to break the deadlock in a tense opening spell.

But the United States appeared to show greater intensity at the start of the second period, and Barnes scored a power play goal three minutes after the restart.

Having assisted on the opener, Knight also got in on the action to double the lead with just over a minute to go in the second period.

That was the reward for huge pressure from the United States who had 21 shots in the second period against just six from the Finns.

The 32-year-old will now feature in her fourth straight Olympic Winter Games final after collecting silver medals at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 before winning gold at PyeongChang 2018.

U.S. goalie Alex Cavallini was busy in the third period with Finland having 14 shots on goal, but her teammates settled it with 55:20