LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Canadas womens hockey team didnt play its best game in its Four Nations Cup opener, but it was enough to beat Finland 3-1. Rebecca Johnston, Natalie Spooner and Vicki Bendus scored for Canada, which is playing this tournament without star forward Hayley Wickenheiser and five other veterans. Canada scored two goals in 1:34 in the first period and wound up outshooting Finland 39-23. "We were a little soft," said forward Meghan Agosta-Marciano, who assisted on Spooners goal. "We need to be able to chip the puck a little more, come out of the zone together and come with speed, and thats something that we kind of lacked a bit tonight. Thats not the best hockey that were going to be playing this tournament." Coach Dan Church praised his teams adjustments in the third period but said the consistency needs to be better. "Finlands a tough team to play against because they clog the neutral zone and theyre very good at their neutral-zone forecheck," he said. "We didnt make an adjustment in the second period, but I thought the third period we did a good job." Finlands only goal came in the third period, when Tea Villila scored on the fifth of six power plays to make it 3-1. Canada took seven minor penalties but Johnstons goal, from Haley Irwin and Brianne Jenner, came on the power play. Goaltender Charline Labonte stopped 22 of the 23 shots she faced. "Charline had a solid game in net for us, turned aside a bunch of shots and was consistent back there," Church said. In addition to Wickenheiser, Canada is without experienced forwards Caroline Ouellette and Marie-Philip Poulin and defencemen Meaghan Mikkelson, Lauriane Rougeau and Laura Fortino, who are getting a rest. Church wants to win the Four Nations Cup, but this tournament is also about evaluating players for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. "Its a prestigious tournament, and its an important step on the road to Sochi. But there are things that we need to do to build our team," he said. "We brought 21 players here that are going to play all four games, and thatll be an important process for us selecting our team down the road, leaving some players behind in Calgary." Those in Lake Placid, N.Y., have their sights on winning now and worrying about Sochi later. "When I think Canada I think winning every single opportunity we have in any game or any tournament," Agosta-Marciano said. "Its great tournament to kind of see where everybodys at, and at the end of the day we want to come out of this on top." Canadas next game is Wednesday night against the United States, which it has already defeated twice recently. This is a renewal of that rivalry, even with some of Canadas best players not participating. "I think itll be good to see some of our younger players, having some of our more experienced veterans at home in Calgary, its an opportunity for them to step up," Church said. 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The regularly scheduled Wednesday night matchup will follow that and will now be seven innings.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Washington Capitals will take aim at a fourth consecutive road victory when they visit the Florida Panthers for Tuesdays clash at BB&T Center. The Capitals enter Tuesday on a 4-0-1 point streak, a stretch that began with a perfect 3-0 road trip. Washington hopes to continue its winning ways on the road tonight when it kicks off another three-game swing that begins a run of six away games in seven outings. Washington hopes to continue its dominance of the Panthers this evening. The Capitals are 10-0-1 in the last 11 encounters in this series overall and Florida has lost four of the last five meetings on home ice. The Caps recently earned a split on a two-game homestand, dropping Thursdays overtime decision against Columbus before downing the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Saturday behind the first career hat trick from Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom scored his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the season to stake Washington to a 3-0 lead against the Bolts. Tampa tallied twice in the final five minutes of regulation to make it a one-goal game, but Eric Fehr sealed the win for the Caps with an empty-netter at 19:21 of the third. Its a great feeling. It doesnt happen a lot that I score three goals in a game, said Backstrom. It was fun. The biggest thing is that we got two points. That is what we needed. Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots for the win, while Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson each supplied two assists for the Capitals. Washington is holding onto the Metropolitan Divissions third automatic playoff spot, but is only one point ahead of the New York Rangers for that distinction.ddddddddddddThe Rangers play Tuesday night in Calgary. Florida. which is tied with the Rangers for the last wild card berth in the Eastern Conference, recently went 1-1-1 on a three-game road trip. The Panthers are home for just one night before heading out for road dates in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Panthers have alternated losses and wins since the start of December, owning a 3-2-2 record this month. After beating Detroit in a shootout on Friday, the Panthers were handed a 4-3 overtime setback in Buffalo to close their swing. Florida dug itself out of a 2-0 hole against the Sabres and grabbed a 3-2 lead when Jussi Jokinen scored just 57 seconds into the third period. However, Brian Gionta would even the score for Buffalo at 8:27 of the third before Nikita Zadorov ended the contest just 29 seconds into the extra session. Sean Bergenheim and Jimmy Hayes scored second-period goals for the Panthers. Florida backup Al Montoya made 28 saves, but he failed to stop the only shot he faced in OT. It seems like its common ground these last couple of games in that first period we start digging ourselves a hole, Montoya said. Roberto Luongo expects to return to the starting role for the Panthers tonight. He is 19-10-0 with a 2.29 goals against average in his career against Washington. Holtby is sporting a perfect 6-0 record and a lifetime 2.69 GAA against Florida. ' ' '