The American and Canadian women’s hockey teams are spending Thursday in Beijing exactly where they expected to be from the start of these Olympics: playing in the gold medal game.The suspense was almost never going to be in the matchup. The two countries have fought over the gold medal in every Games but one since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998.The Canadians, seeking to avenge their loss in the 2018 gold medal game, which was decided by a shootout, have seized control of Thursday’s final.Canada appeared to strike first about seven minutes into the game, when the American goaltender Alex Cavallini deflected a puck and saw Natalie Spooner sweep in with a powerful shot that crossed the goal line. The United States, though, contended that Canada had been offside — an assessment the officials upheld after a challenge by the Americans.It was a respite that kept the game scoreless for only 35 more seconds, when, after Canada won a face-off, Sarah Nurse took a pass from Claire Thompson, spun and scored, the puck rattling into the right side of the net.Canada added its second goal later in the period, when Marie-Philip Poulin, playing in her fourth Games and all but unchallenged at that moment by the Americans, mounted a deep shot that screamed into the net.Poulin added to the swelling American despair about midway through the second, when she scored after another shot had bounced off Cavallini. Hilary Knight scored a short-handed goal for the United States late in the second, when she seized a deflected puck and popped it into the net, promising that the Americans would at least avoid the indignity of a scoreless showing when a gold medal was for the taking.Knight, who is playing in her fourth Games for the United States, is among the tournament’s scoring leaders, with 6 goals. The Canadians, though, have three of the five leading scorers of these Games: Brianne Jenner (9 goals), Sarah Fillier (8) and Jamie Lee Rattray (5).Both teams also have experienced goaltenders on the ice: Cavallini for the United States and Ann-Renée Desbiens for Canada.