Hilary Knight scores 3 in Team USA's 6-1 rout of Canada in Game 2 of Rivalry Series

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — It took a mere two exhibition games in Hilary Knight's lead up to what will be her fifth and final Winter Games for the face of U.S. women’s hockey to show she hasn’t lost her scoring touch.

“I didn’t know I did,” Knight said with a laugh following her three-goal outing in a 6-1 rout of Canada and a 2-0 lead in the women’s hockey Rivalry Series on Saturday night.

At 36, the team captain and Team USA’s most decorated female player certainly didn’t look old or out of place since going public in May to announce this will be her final Olympics. And Knight did so following a PWHL season in which she finished tied for the league lead with 29 points in 30 games.

On Saturday, Knight’s first two goals came from familiar spots in front of the net, before closing with an empty-net goal.

Knight’s outburst came on the heels of Abbey Murphy scoring a natural hat trick in a 4-1 series-opening win between the cross-border rivals and global powers at Cleveland on Thursday. And it provided yet another glimpse of the depth of offensive talent the Americans have heading into the Milan Cortina Games in February.

“I told (Murphy) that she set the bar pretty high,” Knight said, before deferring much of the credit to her teammates. “I love how we showed up. We’ve been working like dogs since August and to get rewarded for our work and see situations that we need to work on. But I think overall, it was a great team win.”

Laila Edwards had a goal and two assists, while Kelly Pannek and Hayley Scamurra, in her Buffalo homecoming, also scored for the Americans. Team USA’s projected backup Gwyneth Philips stopped 29 shots.

Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored and Kayle Osborne stopped 26 shots in her national team debut. Osborne is coming off her rookie season with the PWHL’s New York Sirens, and got the start with coach Troy Ryan going with a younger lineup. Canada left several veterans at home to rest, including projected starting goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.

Ryan acknowledged the younger and speedy Americans resemble the Canadian team that set numerous Olympic offensive records and won the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.

And yet, Ryan isn’t pushing any panic buttons by noting these are only exhibition games, and he’s still tinkering with his lineup. Aside from sitting out several veterans, Ryan noted he also put some of his players in situations to see how they’d respond.

“It’s just about getting better. I don’t get caught up in two back-to-back losses like that,” Ryan said in noting he liked how Canada was competitive by trailing 2-1 through 40 minutes.

“You don’t want to have a loser mentality. You don’t want to be OK with it,” he added. “But it’s also just part of the process and we’ve got to make sure we’re better moving forward."

The series is limited to four games this year and takes a month break with players either returning to college or reporting to their PWHL teams for the start of training camp and start of the season on Nov. 21. The nations will close the series with two games in Edmonton, Alberta, on Dec. 10 and 13.

Ryan plans to go with a lineup that features more veterans and will closer resemble the team’s final roster.

The U.S. has won four straight against Canada, including a 4-3 overtime win at the world championships in the Czech Republic in April.

Knight opened the scoring with a power-play goal 9:26 into the second period by converting a rebound in front after Osborne stopped Megan Keller’s point shot. Pannek scored 65 seconds later after Osborne misplayed a dump-in behind her net.

Leading 2-1, the Americans erupted for three goals over a 2:56 span in the third period. Edwards started the run by driving across the blue line, avoiding Micah Zandee-Hart’s sliding check and roofing a shot below the crossbar.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey