Brianna Decker leads United States past Canada 5-3 for Four Nations gold

JARVENPAA, Finland – Ignoring details cost Canada the gold medal at the Four Nations Cup.

Brianna Decker scored and added two assists as the United States downed Canada 5-3 on Saturday to the Four Nations Cup final. The Americans’ victory came a day after Canada closed out the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 3-2 triumph over the rival United States, winning three straight to open up the event.

According to head coach Laura Schuler, the difference between the two games was obvious.

“We didn’t execute some of the little things that we’ve been working on all week,” said Schuler. “Some of the things we did really well in yesterday’s game we ended up not doing today.”

Decker, Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne all scored in the third period to give the United States a 5-2 lead. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin had her second goal of the game for Canada with 40 seconds left to play. Laura Stacey scored 5:50 into the third to tie it 2-2 for the Canadians.

The Canadians took a pair of penalties in the second, but Schuler said that it was in that period that her team played its best.

“People started to play a little more individual versus playing as a unit,” said Schuler. “I think that in the second period our (penalty) kill was really good and we fed off of that. We had some great opportunities in the second but our game just wasn’t consistent in the first and in the third.”

Both teams went 0 for 4 on the power play, but the U.S. outshot Canada 26-13, including a 13-4 imbalance in the second.

The Americans have won back-to-back Four Nations Cups and four of the past six. Canada has won the tournament 14 times since its inception in 1996.

Finland beat Sweden earlier Saturday to claim bronze in the four-team tournament.