There’s an old saying about how if you take aim at the King, you better not miss, because you’re only going to get one shot.
Thursday night, at TD Garden, in Boston, Massachusetts, Team Canada, who has long ruled over the Hockey World as the dominant hockey nation, scored a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory over Team USA that once again proved that, while they may occasionally falter, they always rise to the occasion when the lights are brightest.
Connor McDavid scored the Golden Goal 8:18 into overtime to seal the biggest win of his career and give Canada the Four Nations Face-Off Championship. Team Canada Head Coach Jon Cooper said it best, “Canada needed a win.” Of course, that win would not have been possible without the superlative goaltending of Jordan Binnington, who, in overtime, made six crucial saves, including stoning Auston Matthews and Brady Tkachuk early in the extra period.
“He made probably three or four all-world saves early in overtime,” McDavid said about Binnington. “All credit to him. Hopefully, some of those haters will back off because, honestly, he played great.”
On top of McDavid and Binnington’s heroics, Nathan MacKinnon won Tournament MVP Honors on the strength of his four goals, including his marker that opened the scoring 4:48 into the first period of the championship game.
Of course, this being a hockey game, it was a full team effort. So, here’s what Jon Cooper had to say after his team’s triumph. “I just hope Canada’s proud because every player in that room is proud to be a Canadian. And yeah, we needed a win. Not only our team, but Canada needed a win. And the players bared that on their shoulders. This one was different. This wasn’t a win for themselves. This was a win for 40-plus million people, the guys knew it and they delivered.”
At one time, this was just a hockey tournament between four different countries. Then, everything changed when politics were introduced. That led to the usually polite Canadians unmercifully booing “The Star Spangled Banner” during the first part of the tournament, in Montreal. Team USA was fired up by that and came out swinging against their rivals last Saturday night. Three fights in nine seconds helped set the tone for an electric affair.
Then, Canada went out and beat Finland to set up a rematch with The USA in the tournament’s championship game. This time, they met in Boston. And this time, it was “O Canada” that was booed by the American fans in attendance.
During the buildup to “The Rematch” both Head Coaches – Mike Sullivan for The USA and Jon Cooper for Canada – did their best to publicly dispel the notion that this game was politically charged. And, for the most part, the players followed suit. Sure, there were a few who acknowledged the elephant in the room. Some even basked in it, like J.T. Miller and Noah Hanifin. But, by and large, this was a hockey game.
The Biggest Hockey Game of this generation.
The energy from the National Anthems didn’t last long for The Americans as Nathan MacKinnon skated across the high slot area and fired a seeing-eye shot toward Connor Hellebuyck. USA’s netminder didn’t track the puck well and MacKinnon’s shot went in at the 4:48 mark of the opening period to give Canada a 1-0 lead.
Late in the first period, with 3:08 to go before the intermission, Brady Tkachuk brought the crowd out of their seats with a greasy goal to tie the game 1-1. That was just the type of goal The USA needed because they weren’t built to match Canada in the skill and speed department. Rather, it was their grit and tenacity that had many believing they had the edge.
Tensions rose early and often in the second period as every inch of the ice was tightly contested. Then, with 7:31 gone by, Jake Sanderson blew the roof of TD Garden with a shot that beat Jordan Binnington to give Team USA a 2-1 lead. And just like with Tkachuk’s goal near the end of the first period, Auston Matthews set up the goal, giving him two assists on the night. Then, with six minutes left in the middle period, Mitch Marner set up Sam Bennett, who sniped the puck past Connor Hellebuyck to tie the game 2-2.
While most were rightly paying attention to the score, another story was developing as Matthew Tkachuk did not take a shift for over seven consecutive minutes from the middle to the end of the second period. His absence began with 11:07 to go in the period and he returned with just under four minutes to go for one short shift. In total, he appeared to take only five brief shifts during the middle period as he was hindered by an apparent leg injury and then didn’t see the ice at all during the third period or overtime.
On a different note, the offensive chances for both teams picked up early in the third as Binnington stopped Jake Guentzel on a partial break chance and Hellebuyck made a couple nice saves as well.
Then, in a nice moment, toward the end of the third period, “Johnny Hockey” chants went up from the crowd on multiple occasions in honor of the late Johnny Gaudreau.
When the third period came to an end with the score still tied 2-2, the game went to overtime; which was the only way this game could go. And here, the overtime rules were the same as in the Stanley Cup Playoffs – five-on-five for 20 minutes and repeat as necessary.
The overtime period started, with more “Johnny Hockey” chants rising from the crowd to continue the beautiful tribute to the late USA star. Had he and his brother Matthew not been killed over the summer, you know Johnny would have been on this team; fighting for a championship with the rest of Team USA.
Of note, once Jordan Binnington stole the show with his overtime saves and Connor McDavid iced the game with his Golden Goal, many began to talk about the game-winner as a passing of the torch moment. Sidney Crosby scored Canada’s Golden Goal in 2010 against Team USA and now McDavid did it in 2025.
However, McDavid was having none of that, saying, “I think you’re gonna see Sid in 12 months (at The Olympics), so I don’t think this is a passing of any torch. Sid had a great tournament. He was a big part of our group and I think you’ll see him in a year’s time.”
Crosby later agreed with that sentiment, stating, “I don’t think of it that way. I’m just really happy he scored and like I said, he couldn’t be more deserving of an opportunity. In that moment, I don’t look at the torch being passed. I’m happy and grateful to be part of this group. It’s not easy at the level that these guys play at and the work it takes to be involved with this group. I’m just really grateful and proud that he was able to get a big moment like that. Just really happy that we won.”
Passing of the torch or not, there’s no denying that Canada remains the dominant hockey nation and as for Team USA, it’s back to the drawing board. They got closer than they ever had before to knocking off Team Canada, but it just wasn’t enough. Next up are The Winter Olympics next February and hopefully another chance to seize the crown. But until then, all rise for “O Canada.”
