Peschel scores in her debut as the U.S. blanks Germany at worlds

The U.S. has played two games at the worlds and its goalies have faced 21 shots. That's not a tournament yet, it's a warmup with anthems, and the only real news out of Esbjerg on Sunday was a 22-year-old defender who looked like she'd been there for years.

Emma Peschel scored in her first game for the national team, a wrist shot from the point in the first period, and the U.S. beat Germany 5-0. It's the second shutout in two games for the Americans, after the 7-0 rout of Switzerland on Friday.

The number: by our count, the U.S. is up 12-0 on the scoreboard and has allowed 21 shots on goal across two games, eight against Switzerland and 13 against Germany. It's a small sample against soft opponents, and it's still absurd.

The rookie

The Sirens took Peschel seventh overall in June and signed her to a three-year deal last week. She hasn't played a PWHL minute yet, and she's already scoring at the worlds.

A defender who shoots from the point in her first game in a USA sweater is telling you about her confidence more than her release. Four years of carrying the puck at Ohio State built that habit, and it travels.

New York won't see her in its colors until December. The U.S. coaches get the first look, and so far they're getting a defender who moves the puck and doesn't flinch. I wrote that she'd be in the Sirens' top-four conversation by Christmas. I'd move that up.

The rest of the sheet

Casey O'Brien opened the scoring and added an assist. Alex Carpenter scored in the second, and Abbey Murphy and Joy Dunne added goals in the third.

Caroline Harvey had two assists and has five points in two games. Hilary Knight picked up an assist, which pushed her worlds records to 54 assists and 122 points. At this point she's mostly racing herself.

Gwyneth Philips needed 13 saves for the shutout. With Aerin Frankel blanking the Swiss in the opener, that's two goalies, two shutouts and zero answers to the question of who starts the gold medal game. Every other federation in Denmark would take that problem.

Group B is where the tournament lives

Herning has the drama. Canada beat Japan 9-0 with nine different scorers, and three of them came in a 1:32 burst late in the third. Chloe Primerano opened it 6:29 in on her own rebound, and Eve Gascon made 14 saves.

That's Canada at 2-0, after the opener against Sweden, with a lineup missing some of its biggest names, which tells you more about its organizational depth than either blowout does.

The result that matters is Sweden 4, Finland 1. Sweden lost 5-1 to Canada in its opener and bounced back two days later against a Finnish team that usually expects to be on the podium. Hilda Svensson had a power-play goal and an assist. Finland is now 1-1, and the third step on the podium is open for business.

In Group A, Alina Müller won it in overtime as Switzerland beat Czechia 2-1. The Swiss needed that after the opener.

What's next

The U.S. plays Austria in Esbjerg on Monday. Canada gets host Denmark in Herning the same day.

The W read: nobody learns anything about the Americans until the knockout games, so watch the bracket under them. Sweden just made the race for bronze real, and Peschel just made herself a lineup regular for the rest of this tournament.