SCARBOROUGH, Ont. – Marie-Philip Poulin made history scoring career goals 100 and 101 as Canada beat Czechia 5-1 on Friday night in Brampton, Ont.
The Canadian captain put away a beautiful backhand move at 8:03 of period one for her first of two goals on the night. Poulin joins Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Danielle Goyette as the only four women to hit the century mark in their career.
Blayre Turnbull impressed with a three-point night (three assists) while assistant captain Jocelyne Larocque and forward Brianne Jenner had two-point nights to complete the strong offensive performance for Team Canada.
Goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens moves to 2-0 in two games with a strong performance against stopping 14 of 15 shots.
Natalie Mlynkova scored Czechia’s only goal late in the first period for her first goal of the tournament.
Goaltender Blanka Skodova showed promise making 36 saves in the game.
The game
Both teams were eager to get things going early in the game with the physicality starting immediately after puck drop.
Canada had an early chance to score when 22-year-old Sarah Filler took a pass from Claire Thompson on defence for a shot on the Czechia net just over one minute into the first period.
Both teams traded puck battles with Canada’s Kristin O’Neill showing her strength despite her 5-4 stature and Czechia’s Dominika Laskova throwing her body around and making things difficult for Canada.
Czechia had their first chance on net when defender Klara Jandusikova forced Desbiens to flash the leather at 5:22 of the opening period.
History was made at 8:03 of period one when Poulin scored her 100th goal for Team Canada on a beautiful backhand move. The goal gave Canada a 1-0 lead and was assisted by Turnbull and Jenner.
Canada would continue applying pressure on Team Czechia with a scramble in front of the Czechia net with four minutes left in the period before forcing Skodova to make a big pad save with 3:30 left to play.
Czechia tied the game 1-1 at 18:27 when Mlynkova scored an unassisted goal on Desbiens.
It would be a short-lived celebration for Team Czechia with Canada scoring just 25-seconds later on a goal from defender Renata Fast. Turnbull put up her second assist of the game with Larocque adding an assist as well.
The period would end 2-1 in Canada’s favour with the team leading 14-7 in shots on net. Both teams killed off body-checking penalties in the period.
After an early scoring chance for Canada to open period two, Czechia would go back to the penalty kill after Noemi Neubaerova went off for holding at 2:11.
Canada successfully killed off the Neubaerova penalty before controlling most of the play throughout the second period.
Czechia’s Laskova went off for tripping at 12:15 and Adela Sapovalivova for high-sticking at 15:15 but Canada was unable to convert on either powerplay opportunity. The team was 0-6 on the power play on the night.
Larocque scored a seeing-eye point shot late in the period to extend Canada’s lead to 3-1 despite the inability to convert on the woman-advantage throughout the game to this point.
Shortly thereafter, forward Danielle Serdachny took a body-checking penalty at 19:37 to give the Czechs a late power play advantage that they’d take into the third period.
Canada outshot Czechia 14-4 to end the second period.
Thompson would have an early scoring opportunity for Canada early in the period, applying pressure to the Czechs at the start of the third.
Canada’s captain wasn’t finished after scoring career goal 100 with Poulin ripping home a wrister 2:16 into the third period to give Canada a 4-1 lead. The goal was assisted by Jenner for her second assist of the game.
Team Czechia found themselves on a brief two-woman advantage after a tripping penalty from Thompson and holding call against O’Neill saw Canada on an extended penalty kill but were unable to convert on the opportunity.
Immediately after Thompson came out the box it was 28-year-old Laura Stacey who was whistled for delay of game giving Czechia another 5-on-3 opportunity, but they were once again unable to score.
Canada’s power play would go back to work after forward Alena Mills was forced to sit for only two minutes for a check to the head of Stacey – a conversation that went on for a few moments between both captains and the officials.
After three successful kills in the opening nine minutes of the period, it was Canada’s turn to apply the pressure with their power play opportunity but were unable to find the back of the net.
After an extended period in Czechia’s defensive zone, Stacey would find herself on the scoresheet with her point shot at 14:40 of period three. The goal was assisted by defender Ella Shelton and Turnbull for her third point.
Canada would head back to the power play for the sixth time on the night after forward Tereza Vanisova was called for boarding but unfortunately were unable to score yet again.
The team would continue to keep the puck in the Czech’s end for the remainder of the game, finishing with 42 shots on goal. Czechia finished with 15 shots.
This was the first time the two teams have faced each other.
Team Canada is back in action on Saturday against Japan, while Czechia faces Team USA on Sunday.
TOP PERFORMERS – CANADA
Blayre Turnbull (three assists)
Marie-Philip Poulin (two goals)
Jocelyne Larocque (one goal, one assist)
Brianne Jenner (two assists)
TOP PERFORMERS – CZECHIA
Natalie Mlynkova (one goal)
Blanka Skodova (36 saves)