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Connor McDavid etched his name in Canadian hockey history with a golden goal on Thursday in Boston, winning a game and a tournament that felt bigger than anything ever played in an All-Star break. With the goal, Team Canada beat Team USA 3-2 in the first best-on-best championship game between the two countries since the 2010 Olympic gold medal game, which Canada won in overtime thanks to Sidney Crosby.
The first two periods were both even, with each team notching a goal in each frame. Nathan MacKinnon got Canada on the board with his fourth goal of the tournament, most of any player, but Brady Tkachuk answered back.
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Tkachuk, who missed practice Wednesday with an illness, contributed a lot more than a goal, though. He was arguably the Americans' most physical player, delivering multiple big-time hits and setting the tone for the game.
Team USA took the lead in the second period on a Jake Sanderson goal, and then Sam Bennett tied it right back.
There was no scoring in the third period, as strong goaltending and high-effort defending took over. Both countries waited for that one last punch, but the high stakes naturally had to last until there was a tournament-winning golden goal on the line
Even the overtime rules reflected how much each team wanted the win, as as there was no three-on-three hockey or a shootout. Just normal, sudden-death hockey, until one team wins.
This rematch came just five days after the U.S. beat Canada 3-1 in round-robin play in a game that was punctuated by three fights in the first nine seconds of play. En route to the championship game, Canada beat both Sweden and Finland, while the U.S. beat Finland but lost to Sweden on Monday after their spot in the final was already clinched. The tournament replaced the NHL All-Star Game this year ahead of next year's Winter Olympics in Milan, which NHL players will participate in for the first time since 2014
The big picture: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a swipe at President Trump's call for Canada's annexation as the 51st U.S. state moments after the win, saying on X: "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game."
Ahead of the game, U.S. hockey fans booed the Canadian national anthem.
And singer Chantal Kreviazuk confirmed to CBC News she changed the Canadian anthem's lyrics from "True patriot love, in all of us command" to "that only us command" in response to Trump's annexation calls.
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