Rivalry Series: U.S. Dominates on Home Soil

The U.S. continued their dominance over Canada in Game 2 of the Rivalry Series with a 6-1 win in Buffalo. 

The U.S. opened the scoring halfway through the second with a power-play goal from Captain Hilary Knight, assisted by Megan Keller and Laila Edwards. They then extended their lead with a goal from Kelly Panneck, assisted by Abbey Murphy. 

Less than a minute later, Kendall Coyne-Schofield took a penalty, resulting in a power-play goal for Canada from Captain Marie-Philip Poulin, assisted by Renata Fast. 

The score opened back up around the seven-minute mark in the third period with Wisconsin senior Laila Edwards extending the U.S. lead, unassisted. A couple of minutes later, Marie-Phillip Poulin took a penalty, leading to U.S. Captain Hilary Knight scoring on the power-play, assisted by Hannah Bilka and Laila Edwards. 

Then it was all cheers for the hometown girl as Hayley Scamurra scored the no-look pass from Taylor Heise, to further the U.S. lead. Then, to cap off the night, Captain Hilary Knight scored on the empty net for her hat trick, bringing the final score to 6-1. 

The U.S. was able to dominate on home soil; will they be able to continue this into the Canadian leg and bring home the Rivalry Series Cup for the first time in three seasons? Or will Canada fight back in front of their home crowd to win their 4th straight? We’re gonna have to wait to find out when the Canadian leg kicks off in Edmonton on December 10th.