In the United States camp, we weren’t ready to say that the momentum is on Canada’s side, even if Marie-Philip Poulin’s gang has just won the last three games of the Rivalry Series.
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The 5-1 loss suffered Monday night at the home of the Trois-Rivières Lions, the Canadian’s affiliate club in the ECHL, was not easy to manage for the Americans. Normally, fans are entitled to tighter scores between the two powerhouses of women’s hockey.
“You never feel good when you lose,” said Hilary Knight. We didn’t offer our best performance tonight [lundi]. We had several new players in our squad. We will definitely do better next time.”
Erased
Knight, Alex Carpenter and Amanda Kessel, sister of Phil Kessel of the Vegas Golden Knights, were virtually invisible, being neutralized by heavy pressure from the Canadians who were often first on the puck.
USA’s lone goal came almost halfway through the final period, closing the lead to 2-1. Knight got an assist on Kelly Pannek’s pass. The only moment of rejoicing for Americans.
“A 5-1 is obviously not the desired outcome, but there are several areas we can improve on and we look forward to getting back on track on Wednesday. [à Laval], assured Knight. For example, we can put more pressure on the disc carrier. Let’s just say we didn’t make it easy. At each stage of the series, we had different formations. It’s no excuse, but we always had new faces.
The former Montreal Canadiens forward still dominates with eight points in six games since the start of this series. She had the chance to play often alongside Carpenter and Pannek.
“Alex is the best player in the world, so it’s always fun to play with her, as well as with Kelly. Obviously, we could have better chemistry. But it went better in the third period, so we’ll build on that,” Knight said.
Intensity
Tempers flared a few times during the evening, especially at the end of the game, as the Americans let their frustration show.
“A Canada-United States game always feels like a gold medal game, no matter where we play or when,” said Quebec goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens. It’s never friendly, it’s very physical, it gets very intense, especially towards the end of the game. We always expect that personally. I don’t know if the fans here expected that, but they’ll find out for next time. We loved the atmosphere, the fans were loud, they made waves, it was really fun.