These Olympics didn’t start well for Finnish coach Mika Pieniniemi's squad. The Americans drew blood on their very first shot after assistant captain Emma Terho put the puck up the middle and gave it away to Knight. She broke in alone and beat Raty high on the blocker side just 53 seconds in.

Terho (nee Laaksonen) is participating in her fifth Winter Olympics, along with teammate Karoliina Rantamaki. American veteran Julie Chu is now a four-time Olympian dating back to Salt Lake City 2002.

"We believe in ourselves more now [than in the past], so when they scored early, we didn't get down or feel we were going to lose," said Rantamaki. "We didn't give up, but it is never good to be scored on so early."

The Americans, who outshot Finland 14-3 in the first period, couldn’t capitalize on their first two power plays. Rantamaki tested Vetter on a nice rush down left wing, but overall, the Finns struggled, continuing to make some sloppy passes.

In the second period, the U.S. siege continued. Shots favoured the Americans 18-4.

"We stressed our defensive play and making quick passes out to let the forwards do what they can do," said U.S. blueliner Megan Bozek. "I think our forwards are the fastest in the world. We wanted to get the puck deep, get around their defence, and pressure them."

Near the four-minute mark, Amanda Kessel, an Olympic rookie, dipsy-doodled her way past the Finnish defence in a style reminiscent of her brother, Toronto Maple Leafs star and U.S. Olympian Phil Kessel, and rang one off the crossbar.

At 7:42, the U.S. went up 2-0 as Knight put the puck high across the crease from next to Raty’s left post to Stack. It deflected off Stack’s left shoulder before she hit it out of mid-air over the goal line. Referee Nicole Hertrich conducted a video review and the goal was deemed good.

With just over four minutes left in the middle frame, the Americans grabbed a 3-0 lead on the power play. Defenceman Anne Schleper hammered the puck off the glass and it deflected behind the net to Carpenter, whose beautiful bad-angle shot from the goal line beat Raty.

Raty looked a little shaken up toward the end of the middle frame when U.S. forward Brianna Decker’s stick inadvertently came up and caught her in the neck area. However, she carried on, stopping another 10 shots in the third period.

It's what you'd expect of a woman who had the 17th-century Finnish battle cry "Hakka paalle!" inscribed on the back of her goalie mask before the Olympics.

With 4:38 remaining, the Finns spoiled Vetter's shutout bid 25 seconds into their second power play of the afternoon. Tapani, making her Olympic debut, converted a lovely cross-crease feed from Michelle Karvinen as Vetter lunged across too late.

The Finns pulled Raty in the dying stages but couldn't do any more damage.

"I thought they got some lucky bounces and we have to feel confident after that game," said Finland's Mira Jalasuo. "For the second and third goals they had some lucky rebounds and I’m confident that we can beat them. Hopefully we’ll get them in the semi-final and we’ll be ready for them. Hopefully we’ll get more power plays as well – we only had two today and we scored from one."

Finnish forward Riikka Valila (nee Nieminen) became the oldest player ever to participate in Olympic women’s hockey at 40 years and 241 days. However, the 2010-inducted IIHF Hall of Famer’s hold on the record will be short-lived, as Russian veteran Ekaterina Pashkevich will break it when she faces Germany on Sunday.

Things won't get any easier for the Finns, who face defending Olympic champion Canada on Monday. The U.S. takes on Switzerland that day.