Canada defeats U.S. 3-2 in overtime to win 4 Nations Face-Off Championship
Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the United States on Thursday night as the North American rivals turned what had been a tune-up for the 2026 Olympics into an geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy.
Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Bennett also scored for Canada. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves in the first three periods and six more in the extra period on the same ice where he helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup five years ago.
Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson scored for the Americans, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots in regulation and three more in OT.
The already ripe rivalry took on an added intensity with the cross-border animosity following President Donald Trump's tariff threats and talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state. Trump called the American team Thursday morning to wish it well, then turned to Truth Social to poke Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau with more annexation chatter.
The political backdrop combined with the quality of the round-robin game, which the United States won 3-1 on Saturday, to bring the atmosphere of a Stanley Cup Final or Olympic gold medal game to the TD Garden.
Fans in their team jerseys waved flags, shouted for their countrymen and continued the ritual booing of the opposing national anthem that has become an nightly undercard for what most agree has been one of the best international hockey competitions in decades.
The American fans chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" to spur on the home team; in the third period, a cheer of "Johnny Hockey! Johnny Hockey!" reminded the players that they were playing for the memory of former Boston College and Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed by a drunk driver while bicycling in New Jersey at his sister's wedding last summer.
"Miracle on Ice" Olympic hero and honorary U.S. captain Mike Eruzione wore a Gaudreau jersey during a pregame ceremonial puck drop with Canadian counterpart Wayne Gretzky.
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NBC Sports
30 minutes ago
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'A lot of it was just talking about the preparation, some advice as far as calling the game,' Albert said. 'It was great to meet with them over zoom and chat with them and just share some knowledge that they can hopefully use in their broadcasts.' Icings aplenty The teams combined to ice the puck 21 times in Game 1, including nine in overtime alone. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch chalks that up a little to the pressure and players not having as much time as they thought to make a decision, along with human nature 'It was Game 1 and it's a little bit of nerves, feeling out what the other team's doing and where that pressure's coming from and not wanting to make a mistake,' Knoblauch said. 'It was something that we would like to stay away from but understand that's part of the game. Florida counterpart Paul Maurice splits up icing into three categories: smart ones to stay out of trouble, maddening ones when players don't get to the center red line to avoid it and ones where stretch passes just get missed. He also has fond memories of the puck sailing down the ice several times late in the Panthers' Stanley Cup clincher last year. 'I think we had 42 in the third period in Game 7 last year,' Maurice said with a chuckle. 'We iced that puck 1,000 times.'
