Danielle Serdachny scored at 2:16 of overtime to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the United States in the fifth game of the Rivalry Series on Monday night.
Serdachny beat goalie Nicole Hensley on the short side with a snap shot in front of 8,640 fans at Crypto.Com Arena.
“They took away (Marie-Philip) Poulin on the 2-on-1 naturally, so decided to take a shot and it went in,” said Serdachny, who scored her first goal in the series.
Canada has won the last two games after the Americans took the first three in the best-of-seven series.
“We didn’t expose their weaknesses in the first three games. We were very passive and sat back a lot,” Canada forward Sarah Nurse said. “A big thing was to take their time and space away. If they can’t break out of their zone, they can’t score goals.”
U.S. forward Taylor Heise tied it 2-all at 9:44 of the third period with a shot from the faceoff circle that got past Canada goalie Emerance Maschmeyer’s blocker.
Cayla Barnes also scored for the U.S., and Hensley stopped 25 shots.
Laura Stacey and Sarah Fillier scored in regulation for Canada. Maschmeyer made 32 saves.
Barnes, the only member of the U.S. team from Southern California, opened the scoring at 4:06 of the first with a shot from the point through traffic that beat Maschmeyer.
Barnes grew up in Eastvale, just an hour from Los Angeles, and played for bantam and junior teams supported by the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.
“I got a nice pass up from the corner and saw a lane to the net. I think traffic in front screened the goalie and it found its way through,” Barnes said.
Stacey tied it at 2:29 of the second by going short side. Fillier gave Canada a 2-1 lead at 17:11 with its first power-play goal of the series. Canada had not converted on its first 16 chances with the skater advantage.
It was the second game in the series to be won in overtime or a shootout. Four of the five games have been decided by one goal.
The last two games of the series will be played next year in Canada. The dates and venues have not been determined by Hockey Canada.