BURLINGTON, Vt. – Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Id.) and Amanda Kessel (Verona, Wis.) each scored twice to lead the U.S. to a 9-0 win over Russia here tonight at Gutterson Fieldhouse in both team's second preliminary-round game of the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship.

"I thought we got better as the game went on," said Katey Stone, head coach for the U.S. Women's National Team. "It's important for us to get out of the gate on our toes and we were able to do that tonight."

Knight stickhandled through the right faceoff circle and beat Anna Prugova glove side at 1:24 of the opening frame. Kessel scored her first world championship goal in the slot on a pass from Kendall Coyne(Palos, Ill.) to give the U.S. a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission.

Monique Lamoureux-Kolls (Grand Forks, N.D.) tallied a shorthanded goal at 5:18 of the second period for her tournament-leading fourth goal of the 2012 IIHF Women's World Championship. Kessel fired a one-timer into the back of the net for her second goal of the night at 19:03 off a pass from Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.).

Knight picked up her second tally of the night on a breakaway 54 seconds into the third period. In only her second game with the U.S. Women's National Team, Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) scored her first world championship goal at 3:36. Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) and Coyne added back-to-back power play goals and Decker rounded out the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:46 to secure the win and extend the U.S. Women's National Team overall record to 2-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) in the tournament.

The U.S. will face Finland on Tuesday (April 10) at 7 p.m. in Burlington, Vt., in its final preliminary-round game of the IIHF Women's World Championship. 

NOTES: Hilary Knight was named the U.S. Player of the Game after scoring two goals ... Monique Lamoureux-Kolls leads the team with eight points (4-4) ... The U.S. has scored 18 goals through two games of the Women's World Championship ... Julie Chu is serving as Team USA's captain, while Jenny Potter and Kacey Bellamy are alternate captains ... Team USA has won four gold medals and nine silvers in the 13 previous IIHF Women's World Championships. The U.S. has won four of the last five world championships (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011) ... Harvard University's Katey Stone will serve as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. Joining Stone as assistant coaches will be Laura Halldorson and Bobby Jay. Stone and Jay were behind the bench for the U.S. at the 2011 Four Nations Cup ... Robb Stauber will serve as the goaltending coach, while Michael Boyle is the strength and conditioning coach