Hilary Knight scores 3 in Team USA’s 6-1 rout of Canada in Game 2 of Rivalry Series

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Hilary Knight scored three times and Team USA routed Canada 6-1 to take a 2-0 lead over their cross-border rivals in the women’s hockey exhibition Rivalry Series on Saturday night.

Kelly Pannek, Laila Edwards and Hayley Scamurra, in her Buffalo homecoming, also scored for the Americans who were coming off a series-opening 4-1 win at Cleveland two days earlier. Team USA’s projected backup Gwyneth Philips stopped 29 shots.

Knight’s three-goal outing, capped by an empty-net goal, follows Abbey Murphy’s natural hat trick on Thursday.

The Americans have now won four straight against Canada in the leadup to the Milan Cortina Winter Games. The run includes a 4-3 overtime win at the world championships in the Czech Republic in April.

Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored and Kayle Osborne stopped 26 shots in her national team debut. Osborne is coming off her rookie season with the PWHL’s New York Sirens, and got the start with coach Troy Ryan going with a younger lineup. Canada left several veterans at home to rest, including projected starting goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.

The series is limited to four games this year and takes a month break with players either returning to college or reporting to their PWHL teams for the start of training camp and start of the season on Nov. 21. The nations will close the series with two games in Edmonton, Alberta, on Dec. 10 and 13.

While the Americans are the defending world champs, the Canadians are the defending Olympic champions after winning their fifth gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Knight opened the scoring with a power-play goal 9:26 into the second period by converting a rebound in front after Osborne stopped Megan Keller’s point shot. Knight is the USA captain and has already announced she will be competing in her fifth and final Winter Games.

Pannek scored 65 seconds later after Osborne misplayed a dump behind her net. Murphy beat defender Micah Zandee-Hart to the puck and fed Pannek, who one-timed a shot before Osborne could get settled in her crease.

Leading 2-1, the Americans erupted for three goals over a 2:56 span in the third period. Edwards started the run by driving across the blue line, avoiding Zandee-Hart’s sliding check and roofing a shot below the crossbar.

Canada features a more experienced roster, with much of the core back from 2022, leading to Ryan stressing a message of guarding against complacency.

“Sometimes what happens with experienced teams that have experienced a lot of things together, complacency can creep in. So a big part of our job is not to allow that, right?” Ryan told The Associated Press earlier this week.

“So when you have trust in people, a lot of times you trust and trust and trust, and it can end up working against you. So it’s just important to not let that stuff creep in,” he added.

“So the, ‘Oh, we’ll be fine. Our passing will get better. We’ll be better come the Olympics.’ I don’t believe that.”

The Americans, by comparison, feature a much younger roster, with nine players still in college.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey