PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- Any wonderment about whether the U.S. women's national hockey team would be drained or exhilarated by its two-week contract staredown with USA Hockey was answered early in its IIHF Women's World Championship opener against Canada on Friday night.

The American women were absolutely flying up and down the ice from the opening faceoff. They looked sharp; not like a team that didn't have a training camp before one of the sport's premier events. They transitioned from offense to defense in a heartbeat, barely allowed any shots early on, and repeatedly crashed the net.

And shortly after a 2-0 victory against its biggest rival in front of a spirited crowd of 3,104 at USA Hockey Arena, the U.S. team celebrated -- just not a lot. Which was the second-most telling thing about where their minds are right now.

"I know a lot of people didn't know what to expect since we had only 48 hours to prepare for this game," U.S. co-captain Monique Lamoureux-Morando said. "But we expect this from ourselves."

So, what did we expect? It was the first game for the U.S. women's team after reaching a new landmark, four-year deal with the federation late Tuesday night. The players scrambled to get to Plymouth, and told reporters after their only pre-event practice Thursday that it would not be an excuse.

But the Americans are riding a wave of emotion that might be hard to stop; and facing Canada, always their toughest opponent, actually might have been the best way to start the tournament.

"They turned the page -- I think that's the best way to put it," U.S. coach Robb Stauber said. "You're not going to play like you can if you're carrying extra baggage."

The American team has a lot driving it. The players talk openly about how they're still irritated by the memory of consecutive losses against the Canadians in a home-and-home series in December the last time they played. In both games, they took an early lead, only to cough it up both times. It was the same ending at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where Canada rallied in the third period and won in overtime to lock up the gold medal.

Some of the veterans from the U.S. team retired after that game, then changed their mind and came back. Star forward Hilary Knight was one of them. She says she and a few of the team's other veterans probably wouldn't still be playing if the score had gone the other way. "That took a long time to get over," Knight said in an interview before this tournament started.

With just a bit over two minutes left in the second period, U.S. defenseman Megan Bozek took off with the puck from just inside the red line and roared all the way down the right wing. She then curled around the back of the net with a Canadian defender hanging on her shoulder and slid a pass across the crease to Brianna Decker, who stuffed the puck in just inside the right post to open the scoring. Gigi Marvin scored the insurance goal with 4:49 into the third period.

Canadian coach Laura Schuler was blunt afterward that she expected more from her team: "I don't think we had confidence with the puck tonight. I don't think we drove the net like I know this team can. At the end of the day, that comes down to heart."

Canada's best scoring chance came from its top player, Marie-Philip Poulin. Before Decker's goal in the second period, Poulin came down the left wing all alone, holding the puck and calmly looking for a place to shoot. Poulin clanged a shot high off the left post, just missing the top corner.

"It's a nice sound when it clangs off the post and doesn't go in," U.S. goaltender Nicole Hensley said with a laugh after the game. "When you're looking at each other like that, they're trying to wait you out. The best thing you can do as a goaltender is just react. Not think."

But even without that bit of luck, the Americans were going to be hard to beat, even in a matchup that featured a little of the chippiness and occasional face-wash shoves that always characterize these rivalry games. They were that swarming and alert and good.

For as long as women's hockey has been on the Olympic program, these two teams have been the best in the world. And while the top-ranked Americans have won more world titles overall -- including seven of the past nine -- Canada has won all but one of the gold medals awarded since women's hockey was added to the Olympics in 1998. And the lone American gold medal came in the sport's debut in Nagano.

There was no need to ask where this win came from.

"This is who we are," Marvin said.