Captain Marie-Philip Poulin broke a goalless tie with two goals in the second period to lead Canada to a 2-1 win over Switzerland. The win puts Canada into their 8th straight gold-medal game against a familiar opponent, the United States, on Thursday. The two teams have played in six of seven previous games for gold at the Olympics, Canada holding a 4-2 advantage.

The Swiss will now face Sweden for bronze earlier that day. This will be a re-match of the 2014 bronze-medal game, when the Swiss staged a wild rally to win what is still their only Olympic medal.

"It's time to win another medal," said Alina Muller. "We have worked for this for a while. We're in a really good spot. We know Sweden really well. We know how they play, and if we play like we did in the third period tonight, we have a really good chance."

Poulin’s two goals are the 19th and 20th of her Olympic career, a new record, surpassing Hayley Wickenheiser (18).

"She's our leader," enthused longtime teammate Blayre Turnbull. "I mean, our captain, the best player to probably ever wear this uniform. I think every accolade that she's achieved, every goal she's scored has not come from just how skilled she is, it's come from her grit, her determination, how hard she competes every shift. We're extremely lucky that she's on our team and that she gets to lead us."

Canada outshot the Swiss 46-8, but found themselves fighting to preseve the lead as the third period wound down. This was the closest result ever between these two teams.

"Their goalie was spectacular, and they played a strong game in front of her," said Jocelyne Larocque. "We knew they weren't going to hand it to us, and we knew that it wasn't going to be easy."

"I feel like we had phases where we battled and where we played with them," said Swiss forward Naemi Herzig. "We were able to keep it close, and if we’d been a little bit tighter on that one blocked shot or in the corner, maybe the game would have turned out differently. They say a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous one in hockey, and we believed every second that we can win this game, that we can turn it around. The one goal definitely helped us. Getting close, unfortunately, was not enough."

Although Canada dominated the opening period, they misfired on several excellent chances and failed to put a puck past Andrea Braendli. Laura Stacey made an early rush, cutting in on goal, but Braendli stood her ground. Daryl Watts nearly banked one in off the goalie, but that also didn’t quite work. Emily Clark made a tip off a pass from the crease, but that re-direct hit the post and stayed out. 

At the other end, Ann-Renee Desbiens was virtually inactive. The only shot she faced in the first was a high floater from long range which she casually blockered over the glass. That came with 2:25 left in the period.

Early in the second it looked certain Poulin would open the scoring. She took a nice pass from Sarah Fillier in front of the goal, but her quick shot was gloved beautifully by Braendli. But hockey is a funny game. Poulin didn’t score on this great chance, but moments later she did score, on a flukey play.

She took a quick shot from the point, but the puck hit Herzig on the way and bounced past Braendli at 1:49. This was Poulin’s 19th career Olympics goal, giving her sole possession of first place on this distinguished list.

Poulin got her second of the period at 8:21. Watts got a shot off that Braendli saved, but Poulin was right there to pop home the rebound. She later incurred a boarding penalty, and as soon as she came out Blayre Turnbull also was sent off. But Canada’s penalty killers were spot on for these four minutes, and the teams headed to the dressing room after 40 minutes with a 2-0 score. 

More significant, shots favoured Canada 35-4. It might not have been the biggest lead, but Canada’s defence was surely going to carry them to victory.

No, it didn't quite happen like that. Early in the third, two bad giveaways got the Swiss back into the game. Renata Fast turned back in her end when she could have gotten the puck out, and then Alina Muller stripped Claire Thompson of the puck behind the net. Muller saw Rahel Enzler in front, and Enzler's quick shot beat Desbiens at 4:53. All of a sudden we had a 2-1 game even though shots were 40-7.

Canada struggled to generate scoring chances in the third, seemingly content to close the door on a 2-1 game. But the Swiss had their moments of pressure and pulled Braendli briefly, until Ivana Wey was penalized, hampering the team's ability to rally.

"It's going to take a brave, courageous, gutsy effort in the final," said Brianne Jenner about the gold-medal game against a U.S. team that beat them 5-0 just a few days ago. "We've been there before. We know how to do it. It's just a matter of us showing up."