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American women try to sharpen aim for semifinal vs. Finland

Ice Hockey - Winter Olympics Day 4

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 13: Jocelyne Lamoureux #17 of the United States celebrates with Kelly Pannek #12 after scoring a second period goal against Olympic Athletes from Russia during the Women’s Ice Hockey Preliminary Round - Group A game on day four of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Kwandong Hockey Centre on February 13, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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Be sure to visit NBCOlympics.com and NBC Olympic Talk for full hockey coverage from PyeongChang.

GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) -- Shooting the puck is not an issue for the Americans. Finding the back of the net is, especially considering how many shots they are taking at the Olympics.

The United States has outshot each opponent in each of their first three games with a combined margin of 137-60. Yet they have just nine goals to show for all that work. Their offense withered in a opening 3-1 win over Finland. It’s not for lack of trying: Knight tied for the team-high with six shots in a win over the Russians and had four in the loss to Canada.

''Any good shooter knows that you’ve just got to take shots and some are going to go in, some aren’t going to go in,’' Knight said. ''So hopefully the pucks start bouncing in the direction we want them to go.’'

Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson leads the Americans with three points after setting an Olympic record for the fastest back-to-back goals by a man or woman by scoring in 6 seconds in a 5-0 win over the Russians.

Stauber reunited Lamoureux-Davidson on the same line with her sister, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, just before these Olympics, and the twins have combined for five points in three games on a line with Kelly Pannek. Lamoureux-Davidson said they simply need to bury their chances.

''We had a lot of shots on net and a lot of opportunities, some loose pucks on the net in scrums, a few inches off in a lot of them, so we’ve just got to find a way to get those goals,’' she said.

With the United States winning the last four world championships and seven of the last eight , the easy and usual assumption is the Americans would square off against Canada for the gold medal the Canadians have won each of the past four Olympics . But the United States lost to Sweden in 2006 and took home bronze from Turin.

The Americans are 7-0 against Finland (Sunday, Feb. 18, 11:10 p.m. ET, NBCSN) in the Olympics and have won 22 games in international competition with one overtime loss and one tie. But Finland beat Canada in pool play at the world championships last spring and has worked to take advantage of this opportunity.

''It’s sort of a one-game tournament now,’' Knight said. ''We’ve got to win to advance to where we want to be. Can’t take Finland lightly. Every game is 50/50 going in, so just trying to sway the odds in our favor during the time of play.’'

Stauber said he has tinkered less with the game plan based on their familiarity with the Finns, the world’s third-ranked team last year. Combined with how they’ve been shooting the puck, that’s why the Americans are focused on converting within 15 feet of the net.

Easier said than done with opponents working to clog up the middle to keep the United States from doing just that.

''Now we’ve got to execute and get the puck across the goal line,’' Stauber said.

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Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker