Two quick goals lift U.S. women to victory

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson can’t remember ever scoring twice on the same shift. The three-time Olympian looking for her first gold medal is just happy to give the Americans a bit of a boost.

She did it in Olympic record fashion.

Lamoureux-Davidson had the fastest back-to-back goals in Olympic history, scoring 6 seconds apart in the second period as the United States shut out the Russians, 5-0, on Tuesday night.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever come close to that again,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “But we’ll see.”

Lamoureux-Davidson not only topped Canada’s Caroline Oullette, who scored twice in 16 seconds on Feb. 11, 2006, in a 16-0 rout of Italy at Turin, but also the men’s mark of 8 seconds apart held by Carl Goran Oberg of Sweden in 1960 at Squaw Valley

acey Bellamy, who scored the first goal of the game off a pass from Lamoureux-Davidson, called the record incredible.

“She works so hard on and off the ice, she deserves it and gave us a really good momentum boost ... obviously in the second period leading into the third,” Bellamy said.

With the win, the Americans remained undefeated going into their early Olympic showdown with Canada, which is also 2-0.

The Americans won eight of the last 10 world championships, including an overtime win over Canada last spring for their fourth straight title. But they are at the Pyeongchang Games trying to end a 20-year gold medal drought. The last time these teams met in the Olympics, Canada rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win its fourth straight gold in overtime in 2014 in Sochi.

No medal will be on the line Thursday, just positioning for the semifinals. That made tuning up the offense a must for the Americans with Canada routing its first two opponents 9-1 after a 4-1 win over Finland earlier Tuesday.

“I have no doubt we’re ready,” goalie Nicole Hensley said