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Canada rolls over Russia

Four different scorers, Desbiens posts shutout

Published 29.03.2015 19:19 GMT+2 | Author Lucas Aykroyd
Canada rolls over Russia
MALMO, SWEDEN - MARCH 29: Canada's Caroline Ouellette #13 celebrates after a first period goal against Russia's Yulia Leskina #31 during preliminary round action at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images)
In men’s hockey, the Canada-Russia rivalry is legendary. In women’s hockey, there’s a big gap between the two, as Canada showed with a 4-0 conquest on Sunday.

The defending Olympic champions were on top of their game, unaffected by their 4-2 loss to the Americans on Saturday. The Russians have one point in two outings after dropping their opener 3-2 to Finland in a shootout.

Goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens made her IIHF World Women’s Championship debut a winning one as Canada outshot Russia 42-19. The Russians split goaltending duties between starter Yulia Leskina and Maria Sorokina, who finished the game.

"I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates," said Desbiens modestly. "They helped me a lot. They did amazing play in front of me, and gave me an opportunity to perform. "

Captain Marie-Philip Poulin and Courtney Birchard had a goal and an assist apiece for Canada, and Caroline Ouellette and Laura Fortino also scored. Rebecca Johnston chipped in a pair of assists.

"As a team, we always talk about the first five minutes and getting a good start," said Fortino. "I think we did that today, and that helped us be successful."

Remarkably, this result equalled the smallest margin of victory ever for Canada over Russia at the Women's Worlds. (The Canadians beat the Russians 5-1 on April 3, 2001.)

It took just 1:05 for Canada to get on the board. Ouellette smartly went to the front of the net and tipped in Halli Krzyzaniak’s point shot.

The Canadians went up 2-0 at 7:17. Poulin won a faceoff in the Russian end, and Johnston sent the puck over to Fortino, who zipped a wrister high past the goalie’s glove.

Birchard made it 3-0 with one-tenth of a second left in the first period, powering a slap shot from outside the blue line through Leskina. There was a lengthy while first the play was video-reviewed and then the clock was adjusted before the puck was finally dropped as a formality.

"I think in the first period we kind of came out flat there and lost a lot of energy," said Russia's Iya Gavrilova. "That’s why they scored three goals on us."

Desbiens made a fine glove save on Valeria Pavlova on a Russian 2-on-1 rush with under nine minutes left in the second period.

At 12:25 of the middle frame, Poulin made it 4-0, taking a nice cross-ice pass from Johnston on the rush and sending a deft backhander home.

Canada gave the Russians a 46-second 5-on-3 power play in the third period, but there was nothing doing for coach Mikhail Chekanov's crew.

Russia has now lost seven straight IIHF World Women's Championship games all-time to Canada, dating back to 1997, and has been outscored 60-5 over that stretch.

The Canadians wrap up their round-robin slate against Finland on Tuesday.

"They’ve always played us tough since I’ve been coaching here with Hockey Canada," said Canada's Doug Derraugh. "They play a real strong team game and we’ll expect a tough game."

Russia will face the Americans on Tuesday.

"We need to make sure we match their speed and do a good defensive zone coverage," Gavrilova said of the U.S. "At the same time, we need to make sure we stay out of the box and keep them on the outside.

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