BEIJING -- Canada's 6-1 win over Russia in Olympic women's hockey Monday featured the strange visual of players on both teams wearing masks under their cages after a delayed puck drop.
Sarah Fillier, Jamie Lee Rattray, Sarah Nurse, Rebecca Johnston, Erin Ambrose and captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored for Canada, which caps Pool A against the United States in a battle of 3-0 teams Tuesday.
Goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 11 of 12 shots for the win in her first start of the tournament.
Anna Shokhina scored for Russia. Starter Daria Gredzen turned away 30 shots over half a game before giving way to Maria Sorokina and her 13 saves.
Canada controlled Monday's game, but wasn't quite as dominant early as it was in 12-1 and 11-1 wins over Switzerland and Finland respectively.
The Canadians might have needed time to mentally adjust to the game's odd circumstances.
Both teams participated in warmup as per usual, but when the Russians returned to the ice for player introductions, the Canadians did not.
Head coach Troy Ryan emerged to summon on-officials to the bench for a conversation. After circling the ice and sitting on the bench for 40 minutes, the Russians returned to their dressing room.
After an hour's delay, players from both countries and the on-ice officials stepped onto the ice at Wukesong Sports Centre wearing KN95 masks under their masks.
No explanation was immediately forthcoming from the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The Russians and officials removed their masks for the third period, but the Canadians wore theirs until the final buzzer.
Russia played 17 skaters from a 23-woman roster Monday. An outbreak on the team upon arrival in Beijing had the squad isolate for two days Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.
Russia was minus six players in a 5-2 win over Switzerland to start their tournament Friday and had 21 for a 5-0 loss to the U.S. the following day.
Canada and the United States have met in all Olympic finals but one in 2006 when Sweden advanced with a semifinal upset of the U.S.
Canada's women rattled off four straight Olympic hockey gold medals before falling to the Americans in a shootout four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The four teams in each pool of five in Beijing advance to Feb. 11-12 quarterfinals: A1-B3, A2-B2, A3-B1, A4-A5. The semifinals are Feb. 14 followed by the bronze-medal game Feb. 16 and the final Feb. 17.
Canada was minus Melodie Daoust a second straight game. The forward hasn't played since the second period of Canada's opening win when she was checked hard into the boards, and sustained an apparent injury to her right arm.
The Canadians rattled off four unanswered goals before Shokhina scored on an odd-man rush late in the second period.
Poulin, who carried Canada's flag into Friday's opening ceremony alongside short-track speedskater Charles Hamelin, scored her first goal of the tournament on a power play in the third period.
Nurse collected her fourth of the tournament and Fillier a team-leading fifth within a 20-second span starting at 2:09 of the opening period.
Fillier, 21, continued to be the breakout star of the women's tournament scoring first-period goals in three straight games for Canada. A second goal by Fillier was overturned in the third period when Russia successfully challenged it for offside.
Despite Russia's hockey prowess in the world, their women have never stood on the Olympic podium. They lost the bronze-medal game to Finland four years ago. Russia finished third in the women's world championship three times (2001, 2013, 2016).
Russia is officially referred to as Russian Olympic Committee or ROC, the country's flag isn't allowed on uniforms and the Russian anthem isn't played in Beijing because of World Anti-Doping Association sanctions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7.
