Team USA Blanks Sweden 5-0 to Advance to Gold Medal Game

Team USA will officially play for Olympic gold for the seventh time in eight tournaments after taking down Sweden 5-0 in the semifinals. Five different players found the back of the net for the Americans, while Aerin Frankel secured her third straight shutout, and the Americans’ fifth consecutive overall. The U.S. shutout streak now sits at 331:23.

Cayla Barnes triggered the first Free Bird play of the game on a delayed penalty call. She sailed a long-range shot through traffic and past Swedish goaltender Ebba Svensson Traff to make it 1-0 Team USA just 5:09 into the game. It was Barnes’ first point of the tournament, leaving seventh defender Rory Guilday as the lone American player without a point in Milan. Just five American skaters have not personally found the back of the net.

Goal aside, the United States dominated Sweden in the opening frame. They didn’t allow so much as a Swedish shot on goal for over nine minutes, completely controlling possession and spending the majority of the time in the offensive zone. By the end of the period, shots were 13-2 USA, but much like Gabriella Durante did for Italy, Svensson Traff limited the U.S. to just one goal in the opening frame.

Sweden came out on fire in the second period, forcing the U.S. to defend perhaps more than any other team had all tournament. They outshot the Americans 5-1 in the first five minutes and continued to get chances through the first half. However, Frankel was up to the task for Team USA and kept the Swedes off the board.

A successful U.S. penalty kill then turned the tide back in favor of Team USA. Shortly after Hayley Scamurra emerged from the box after her tripping penalty, Hannah Bilka continued her outstanding offensive tournament. She sent a slick feed over to Taylor Heise, who snuck it between Svensson Traff and her post to make it 2-0 USA at 9:09 of the second.

Later in the period, Sweden made the ill-advised decision to allow Abbey Murphy time and space to pick her shot. She did not waste the opportunity to snipe it into the top corner and extend the U.S. lead to 3-0.

Just 58 seconds later, Laila Edwards wired a shot through traffic, and Kendall Coyne Schofield got enough of a tip on it to fool Traff and make it 4-0 Team USA at 16:10 of the period. The goal spelled the end of the night for Svensson Traff, with Emma Söderberg taking over in relief. It was just the second appearance of the tournament for Söderberg, who shut out France in the preliminary round.

Sweden did not do Söderberg any favors over the rest of the period, allowing Team USA to test her quickly and find the back of the net not even two minutes later. Hayley Scamurra shook off her defender to end up alone in front of the net, so when Britta Curl-Salemme fed her the puck from the corner, she was able to get an easy shot off and beat Söderberg.

The third period passed relatively uneventfully, with the United States taking a late penalty and outshooting Sweden 10-8, but neither team finding the back of the net.

The United States is now off to the gold medal game, while Sweden will look to secure their first medal since 2006 in the bronze medal match. Both teams will find out their opponent later today following the Canada-Switzerland semifinal at 9:10 p.m. local/3:10 p.m. ET.

The gold medal game is set for Thursday, February 19, at 7:10 p.m. local/1:10 p.m. ET, while the bronze medal will be determined earlier that day at 2:40 p.m. local/8:40 a.m. ET.