U.S. Rallies to Beat Finland

In 95 games of tournament competition, the U.S. women’s hockey team had never lost to any opponent but Canada.

In Game 96, Finland appeared ready to end that streak.

It took a five-goal rally in the third period for the U.S. women to wear down the spirited but overmatched Finns, 7-3, Tuesday and finish preliminary-round play atop Group B with a 3-0-0 record. A loss would have matched them against Canada in Friday’s playoff semifinal; instead, they’ll face Sweden, which finished second to Canada in Group A with a 2-1-0 record.

Finland held leads of 2-1 after one period and 3-2 after two periods until Katie King tied it and Simi Valley native Angela Ruggiero put the U.S. ahead for good on a rink-length rush at the Palasport arena.

“They have the best players in the world,” said Finland goaltender Maija Hassinen. “If we don’t focus for two minutes, that’s enough for them to score three goals.”

Two minutes and two seconds, actually, a spurt started by Ruggiero and finished by Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell. Ruggiero, a three-time Olympian, also scored the final U.S. goal.

“We have to play 100% for 60 minutes,” Finland Coach Hannu Saintula said. “Then we have a little chance. Not so big.”

U.S. defenseman Lyndsay Wall said she and her teammates were calm in the face of a rare deficit. The U.S. women had previously needed a rally to defeat Finland once during a pre-Olympic exhibition in December.

“We knew we’re the kind of team that can come back,” she said. “After the second period we came into the locker room and talked. This team is full of some great goal scorers, and we talked about just shooting the puck instead of passing like tic-tac-toe, and the floodgates opened.”

The U.S. will take today off before preparing for Friday’s game.

Times staff writer Bill Shaikin contributed to this report.