With several players unavailable because of COVID-19 protocols, the Russian women’s hockey team still found a way to win its opener at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.
Russia beat Switzerland 5-2 in the only Group A game of the day.
The Russians were in isolation from Monday to Wednesday because of COVID concerns.
Forward Polina Bolgareva had a hat trick for the Russians, who are hoping to improve on their fourth-place showing from 2018 in PyeongChang.
Alina Muller, the 2018 Olympic scoring leader, had a goal and an assist for Switzerland.
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The Swiss fell to 0-2 after losing 12-1 to Canada in their opener on Thursday.
The Switzerland-Russia game was a rematch of a 2021 world championship quarterfinal, won 3-2 by the Swiss. The Russians beat Switzerland 7-2 in the 2018 Olympic quarterfinals.
All five teams from the top-ranked Group A — which also includes Canada, the U.S., and Finland — will advance to the quarterfinals.
China 3, Denmark 1
China improved to 1-1 with a win over a Denmark team making its Olympic debut. Ni Lin scored the go-ahead goal for China with 50.9 seconds left before Qiqi Lin added an empty-netter.
Saturday schedule
Canada vs. Finland, 11:10 p.m. ET (Friday)
Japan vs. Denmark, 3:40 a.m. ET
Czech Republic vs. Sweden, 3:40 a.m. ET
U.S. vs. Russia, 8:10 a.m. ET
Saturday spotlight
Finland wasn’t very competitive in a 5-2 loss to the Americans in the opener — and will try for a better showing against Canada. The Finns shocked Canada in the 2019 world championship semifinals before returning to a bronze-medal position at last year’s worlds in Calgary. There hasn’t been an update yet on Canadian forward Melodie Daoust, who left the opener with an upper-body injury on Thursday.
Coaching change
Finland head coach Pasi Mustonen has returned to his home country for family reasons, the team said Friday. Assistant Juuso Toivola takes over as head coach.
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