SOCHI, Russia, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Amanda Kessel scored two of her team's five first-period goals Monday and the United States went on to crush Switzerland 9-0 in women's Olympic hockey.
Three Americans scored twice in the runaway victory, which gave the United States a 2-0 record in group play.
Monique Lamoureux and Kendall Coyne also scored twice for the United States, which outshot the Swiss 53-10.
Molly Schaus, seeing her first action in the Olympic tournament, recorded the shutout. She faced just two shots in each of the last two periods.
Brianna Decker, Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter accounted for the other American goals.
While the Americans had an easy time of it, Canada was made to sweat out what eventually became a 3-0 victory over Finland in the other Group A game.
The contest was scoreless until Meghan Agosta-Marciano scored with 10:33 to go in regulation.
Jayna Hefford and Rebecca Johnston added goals down the stretch.
Canada and the United States will face each other to complete group play on Wednesday. The winner of that game will move into the semifinals. The loser will have to survive a quarterfinal contest against a team from Group B to reach the medal round.
Group B games on Tuesday will send Germany against Sweden and Russia against Japan. Sweden and Russia won their opening games on Monday.
