GANGNEUNG, South Korea — The blistering pace on the ice and the atmosphere in the arena was reminiscent of the epic showdown between the United States and Russia in Sochi four years ago.

That is where the similarities end.

When the teams met again at the Olympics on Saturday night without NHL players, Ilya Kovalchuk and the Russians put on a clinic — outplaying, outhitting and outclassing the U.S. in a 4-0 shutout.

The U.S. must now play in the qualification round Tuesday, while Russians finished first in the group and move on directly to the quarterfinals, hoping their dominance puts T.J. Oshie’s shootout performance in 2014 further in the rearview mirror.

“After the last game in Sochi, I think you guys are still showing the highlights of Oshie scoring those shootouts, right?” Kovalchuk said. “So hopefully you’re gonna change that now.”

Russians Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk and Slava Voynov and U.S. coach Tony Granato are the only people back from that game, which had higher stakes because of the NHL talent.

There is still plenty at stake this time with the U.S. looking to win its first Olympic gold medal since the “Miracle On Ice” in 1980.

Medal for U.S. in short track

The United States won an unexpected medal in short-track speedskating, its first in the sport at these games. John-Henry Krueger placed second in the men’s 1,000 meters, behind Samuel Girard of Canada, as the rest of the field crashed.

In the women’s 1,500-meter race, Choi Min-jeong of South Korea won the gold medal.

Norwegian wins gold in men’s slopestyle

Norway’s Oystein Braaten captured the gold medal on Saturday in ski slopestyle at the Pyeongchang Olympics, far outdistancing American Gus Kenworthy, who failed to land any of his three runs and came in last.

Braaten edged out American Nick Goepper, who added a silver medal to the bronze he won four years ago in Sochi.

Canadian Alex Beaulieu-Marchand took the bronze.

Swiss finish 1-2 in slopestyle

Sarah Hoefflin led a Swiss gold and silver effort in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle. She scored a 91.20 on her last run to take the gold from her countrywoman, Mathilde Gremaud. Maggie Voisin of the United States was fourth.

Norway gains redemption

No event is a bigger deal in Norway than the cross-country relay. So when the women’s team was fifth four years ago, it was a disaster.

The good news was that Norway was heavily favored to claim this year’s race. They did, but it was a hard-fought effort.

Norway fell 29 seconds behind, in fourth place after the first two legs. Luckily their skiers for Legs 3 and 4 were Ragnhild Haga, winner of the 10-kilometer individual event, and legendary six-time gold medalist, the 37-year-old Marit Bjoergen.

Haga cut the gap behind Russia and Sweden to 20 seconds, then 10 and finally 3. Then Bjoergen took over. She seized the lead over Stina Nilsson of Sweden, the sprint race gold medalist, and refused to let her pass, finally crossing the line 2 seconds ahead to win the gold that Norway covets most.

Repeat in skeleton

Lizzy Yarnold of Britain defended her skeleton title, overcoming a poor second run in which she had only the ninth best time.

Slovakia wins in biathlon

Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia ran away with the mass start biathlon race. She made her first 19 shots, then gasped with disappointment when she missed No. 20. But she had built a big enough lead that the resulting penalty lap was not enough to drop her out of first, and she won by 18 seconds.