US women beat Russia with fastest consecutive goals in Olympic history
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson can’t remember ever scoring twice on the same shift. The three-time Olympian looking for her first gold medal is just happy to give the Americans a bit of a boost.
She did it in Olympic record fashion.
Lamoureux-Davidson had the fastest back-to-back goals in Olympic history, scoring 6 seconds apart in the second period as the United States shut out the Russians 5-0 on Tuesday night.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever come close to that again,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “But we’ll see.”
Lamoureux-Davidson not only topped Canada’s Caroline Oullette, who scored twice in 16 seconds on Feb. 11, 2006, in a 16-0 rout of Italy at Turin, but also the men’s mark of 8 seconds apart held by Carl Goran Oberg of Sweden in 1960 at Squaw Valley.
Kacey Bellamy, who scored the first goal of the game off a pass from Lamoureux-Davidson, called the record incredible.
“She works so hard on and off the ice, she deserves it and gave us a really good momentum boost … obviously in the second period leading into the third,” Bellamy said.
With the win, the Americans remained undefeated going into their early Olympic showdown with Canada, which is also 2-0.
The Americans won eight of the last 10 world championships, including an overtime win over Canada last spring for their fourth straight title . But they are at the Pyeongchang Games trying to end a 20-year gold medal drought. The last time these teams met in the Olympics, Canada rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win its fourth straight gold in overtime in 2014 in Sochi .
No medal will be on the line Thursday, just positioning for the semifinals. That made tuning up the offense a must for the Americans with Canada routing its first two opponents 9-1 after a 4-1 win over Finland earlier Tuesday.
“I have no doubt we’re ready,” goalie Nicole Hensley said.
Gigi Marvin and Hannah Brandt each had a goal. Hensley, who started the U.S. win over Canada in the 2017 world championship, made 13 saves in her Olympic debut. U.S. coach Robb Stauber rotated his goalies, putting Hensley in net after playing Maddie Rooney in a 3-1 opening win over Finland.
The Americans had played the Russians in the Olympics only once before, and they routed them 13-0 in 2010 at Vancouver setting a single-game record for the U.S. in the games.
This time, they played athletes from Russia competing under the Olympic flag after the country was banned from the games for revelations of a massive doping operation. The women’s hockey team is playing without six players from the world’s fourth-ranked team a year ago, though the Russians had a pocket of vocal cheerleaders on hand.
“Obviously, we’re aware of what’s been going on with Team Russia,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “I think at the end of the day you just have to come out and be focused on us and play the opponent who we’re playing regardless of what’s going on.”
Neither team could generate much offense in the opening minutes. Then Lamoureux-Davidson took the puck deep into the left circle and found Bellamy, who scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, beating Valeria Tarakanova stick-side 8:02 for the 1-0 lead.
Lamoureux-Davidson led a breakout in the second. She tapped in the rebound of a shot from her twin sister , Monique Lamoureux-Morando, at 11:46. Off the ensuing faceoff, the puck wound up in the skates of two Russian players and she poked it away to give herself a breakaway. She dipped her right shoulder and feigned a forehand shot before beating Tarakanova with a backhand.
Marvin’s goal off a rebound at 14:38 gave the Americans a 4-0 lead, and Brandt, who had a goal overturned for a hand pass, scored with 1:37 left.
