On Saturday night at the CAA Arena in Brampton, Ontario, Team Canada dominated Japan 5-0 thanks to two goals from Sarah Fillier to improve to a perfect 3-0 record. It was only the second-ever meeting between the two countries at this event. In the last meeting, Canada defeated Japan 9-0. Emerance Maschmeyer got her first start of the tournament and made 11 saves.
Canada increased its shot total and managed to get 60 shots on net and placing Japan to play most of the night in their defensive zone. Two of the host nation's five goals came in the first period from Jenner and Fillier. This is an improvement, given the team felt they were slow out of the gate in their win against Czechia Friday night.
“I think in the game today, we had a bit of a mindset to get a better start than we have had and fall into the way we play instead of letting the game dictate the way we play," Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan said postgame. "I think there were little spells where we got individualistic, but what stopped it was every time we got that way, we ended up turning the puck over and took a penalty as a result of it, and that was the thing we needed to snap us out of it.”
Canada spent eight minutes in the penalty box compared to Japan's four minutes.
Breaking Canada's Down the Win
It didn’t take long for Canada to strike first as 1:21 into the game Blayre Turnbull opened the scoring, but upon further review, the goal was overturned due to Laura Stacey being in the crease.
Jenner finally opened the scoring after Marie-Philip Poulin made some great moves and found Jenner right in the slot less than four minutes into the first period.
Fillier made it 2-0 for Canada roughly four minutes later when Renata Fast took a shot from the point and missed, but she managed to find the loose rebound and put the puck into the back of the net.
Forward Sarah Nurse scored three minutes into the second period when she tipped a shot from Erin Ambrose on the power play 34 seconds after Japan was penalized.
Natalie Spooner scored with 1:25 left on the clock when she managed to deviate a shot from Jamie Lee Rattray, and it bounced off the Japanese goaltender and into the net.
After two periods, Canada was outshooting Japan 43-5, and four of those shots came in the second period. Filler scored her second of the game with 3:19 left in regulation when she scored from the side of the net.
Saturday's win improves Canada to 8-0 and a 96-0 goal differential dating back to their first-ever meeting in 1990. Miyuu Masuhara got the start for Japan and made 31 saves before being pulled for backup goaltender Riko Kawaguchi who made 24 saves.
Canada will next face the US on Monday in a rematch of last year's Women’s Worlds final and the gold medal game at the Olympics.
Sunday Slate
The action continues on Sunday with three games on the schedule as Sweden faces Finland in a Scandinavian battle. The United States will face the Czechia sans veteran Alena Mills, who was suspended one game for an illegal check.
France seeks its first win against Germany in the final game scheduled for Sunday. Canada now sits atop Group A ahead of their Monday showdown with the United States. Czechia is in third place.
Finland remains in the top spot in Group B with Germany, Sweden, and Hungary all with three points and jockeying for control of second.