MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The United States sent a message with a resounding 5-0 win over depleted rivals Canada in the Milano Cortina group stage on Tuesday, handing the defending Olympic champions their first-ever shutout at the Games.
Forward Hannah Bilka scored twice while forward Kirsten Simms and defenders Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards added goals at Santagiulia Arena for the United States' fourth consecutive win of the Games to clinch the top spot in Group A.
"Our players are just kind of honing in on our little details and playing really well together, doing things together, battling together, and just doing it for each other," said Abbey Murphy, who notched three assists for the U.S.
"That's the most important part."
The disjointed Canadian team had no firepower against the Americans without their talismanic "Captain Clutch" Marie-Philip Poulin, who suffered a lower-body injury during Monday's win over the Czech Republic.
"We played like we didn't have confidence with the puck," said Canada's coach Troy Ryan. "We rushed a lot of decisions."
Canada will hope to regroup when they face Finland on Thursday in their final group stage game.
U.S. TEAM SET TONE EARLY
A raucous crowd piled into Santagiulia Arena for what many had expected to be a close contest between the two powerhouse countries, the only nations ever to top the podium since women's hockey joined the Games in 1998.
But Harvey set the tone when she fired the puck underneath Canada goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens' leg in the fourth minute to open the scoring with her second goal in two days, starting the rout.
Murphy seemingly had eyes on the back of her head as she flipped the puck behind her to connect with forward Bilka, who rifled a shot from the slot into the net late in the first period.
Simms forced the puck over the line on the power play early in the second period, a goal Canadian coach Troy Ryan unsuccessfully challenged, and Murphy assisted Bilka on another goal with seven minutes to go before the intermission for a commanding 4-0 lead.
The game, widely expected to be a preview of the Milan gold-medal contest, had been billed as a battle of U.S. youth versus Canada experience.
The U.S. found another gear to neutralise their arch rivals' offence in the third period and added to its own goal haul.
The 22-year-old converted forward Edwards got her first Olympic goal after she beat the Canadian defender Erin Ambrose for a terrific unassisted effort with just over eight minutes left to complete the scoring.
The United States enter the knockout stage having conceded only one goal, with everything working in their favour after winning last year's world championships.
"What makes our team so special is we have those young players, but we also have the older players that really lead by example," said Bilka.
"So I think when we can mesh those two things together, it's a really special team."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan; additional reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
