Team USA trailed Canada with less than three minutes in regulation. But they got the job done in captain Hilary Knight's final Olympic game, tying it up and scoring in overtime to capture the gold medal.
It was another historic installment of Canada and the United States battling for gold at the Olympic women's hockey tournament. In a game that needed overtime, Megan Keller played hero for the Americans, scoring the golden goal to give Team USA a 2-1, come-from-behind victory.
Team Canada had lost seven consecutive games to the USA leading up to the gold medal game going back to World Championship and Rivalry Series matchups. In the preliminary round, Team USA handed Canada a 5-0 loss, the first time Canada's women's team had ever been shut out at the Olympics.
Until the final minutes of play, it looked like Canada would erase those past losses and earn another goal.
In the opening frame, Canada came out with more energy and jump than they have had in a year. Canada outshot and outchanced the USA in the opening period, gaining momentum off two early power-play opportunities.
Canada opened the scoring in the second period on a shorthanded opportunity. With Ella Shelton in the penalty box for hooking, Laura Stacey grabbed a puck rushing down the ice in what became a 2-on-1. With Kristin O'Neill driving, Stacey found O'Neill, who went to her backhand and beat USA netminder Aerin Frankel to give Canada a lead.
Canada continued to press, getting strong contributions from the line of Laura Stacey, Emily Clark and Blayre Turnbull, as well as from veteran forwards O'Neill and Marie-Philip Poulin, who missed two games during the Olympics with an injury. Stacey repeatedly won puck battles, blocked shots and was relentless in her pursuit of the puck defensively for Canada.
With just over six minutes to go, USA's composure began to slip as Britta Curl-Salemme took a boarding call against Erin Ambrose behind Canada's net to send the Canadians to the power play, allowing Team Canada to kill valuable time off the clock.
Pulling Frankel with time running out, however, the Americans got the goal they needed.
The puck came to Laila Edwards at the blueline, who fired a shot into traffic, where American captain Hilary Knight was standing.
Knight tipped the puck by Ann-Renee Desbiens to tie the game 1-1 with only 2:04 remaining in the game.
Knight's goal made her USA's all-time goal scoring and points leader at the Olympics in her final game. She announced before the tournament this would be her final Olympic Games.
In overtime, Megan Keller carried the puck into Canada's zone, cut to the middle of the ice, undressed Canada's Claire Thompson and slid the puck under Desbiens to give the United States gold.
Megan Keller watches the puck as it crosses the goal line and gives the Americans Olympic gold in women's hockey. (David W Cerny/Reuters via Imagn Images)It was USA's third Olympic women's hockey gold, winning in 1998 and 2018.
And throughout the tournament, it was an expectation for the Americans to get their third gold medal.
With their lengthy winning streak against Canada and outscoring their opponents 31-1 heading into the final, there were thoughts that the gold medal game wouldn't be overly close. In fact, Hockey Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero said this is the best American women's hockey team she's ever seen. It has a mix of veteran leaders, stars in their prime and youngsters already playing at an elite level.
So when the Americans faced adversity, they held their own and capitalized on opportunities when crunch time arrived.
And now, when it looked like they were about to wear a silver medal around their necks, they are celebrating gold in a tournament they dominated and will remember for a long time.
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