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Canadian women’s hockey team edges U.S. 4-3 to push Rivalry Series to third game

TORONTO — Jamie Lee Rattray and Marie-Philip Poulin had a goal and an assist apiece as the Canadian women’s hockey team edged the arch-rival U.S. 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.
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Teammates congratulate Canada goalie Genevieve Lacasse (31) after defeating USA in National Women’s Team Rivalry Series hockey in Toronto on Thursday, February 14, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO — Jamie Lee Rattray and Marie-Philip Poulin had a goal and an assist apiece as the Canadian women’s hockey team edged the arch-rival U.S. 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.

The win tied the best-of-three Rivalry Series at a game apiece. The deciding contest goes Sunday afternoon in Detroit.

Laura Fortino and Brianne Jenner had the other goals for Canada. Genevieve Lacasse made 24 saves, including 15 in the third period.

Alex Carpenter, Hannah Brandt and Brianna Decker scored for the Americans. Katie Burt stopped 26 shots.

Rattray’s goal at 7:06 of the third put the Canadians ahead 4-2 and gave them much-needed breathing room. Rattray completed a nice give-and-go with Laura Stacey and Blayre Turnbull on a three-on-two break.

Decker pulled the Americans to within 4-3 at 10:34, shovelling a loose puck past Lacasse in front. But the Canadian goaltender made a big stop off a U.S. rush with 1:11 remaining.

Both goaltenders came up with nice stops in the early going. Burt turned side Rattray at 4:47 before Lacasse halted a solid American rush less than a minute later.

The U.S. won the series opener 1-0 on Tuesday night before 9,036 spectators in London, Ont. Hilary Knight scored the game’s lone goal and Alex Rigsby made it stand, stopping 33 shots for the shutout.

Canadian goalie Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 20 shots.

Canada outshot the U.S. 14-5 in the first and led 3-2 at the intermission on Thursday. But it was the Americans who opened the scoring with Carpenter converting on the power play at 7:03.

Poulin made it 1-1 just 1:44 later, scoring off a nice centring pass from Stacey. Brandt put the Americans back ahead at 10:30.

Again Canada tied the contest on Fortino’s power-play goal at 13:13. Then with 36 seconds remaining, Jenner scored on the man advantage, sliding a loose puck past Burt on a goalmouth scramble.

The Canadians outshot the Americans 9-7 in a scoreless and had ample opportunity to break the game open with four straight power-play chances — including a 20-second stretch with a two-man advantage. But the Americans were able to kill off all four opportunities in the period and keep it a one-goal game.

The U.S. pressed for the tying goal on the power play with under three minutes to play. Although Canada successfully killed the chance, the Americans kept the pressure on right to the end of the period.

The Americans have had the best of the Canadians internationally of late, beating them in the final of the last four world championships as well as the past four Four Nations events. That includes a 5-2 victory in November in Saskatoon.

And the U.S. edged Canada 3-2 in a climactic shootout at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.