Silver Linings: Senators Stars Brady Tkachuk And Jake Sanderson Win Olympic Gold

The NHL's return to the Winter Olympics was well worth the 12-year wait. In an incredible final, Canada dominated in every facet of the championship game... except the scoreboard.

Jack Hughes scored early in overtime to give the United States a 2-1 victory. With Canada caught up ice, Zach Werenski hit Hughes in the slot and he beat Jordan Binnington between the legs with a wrist shot for the historic winning goal for America. 

Just moments earlier, Hughes had through the physical and emotional wringer late in the third period.

First, he lost teeth after taking a high stick from Sam Bennett. Then, after Canada killed off most of that four-minute penalty, Hughes took his own high sticking penalty on Bo Horvat and had to sit in the penalty box, praying his team would kill off the penalty in the dying moments of regulation.

For Canada, there was no shortage of "what if' moments. 

Avalanche teammates Devon Toews and Nathan MacKinnon both had empty nets to shoot at that would have put Canada ahead in the third period. Toews was stopped on a desperation stick save by Connor Hellebucyk, while MacKinnon just missed the target, ripping his shot off the side of the net.

Then in overtime, Cale Makar who misjudged things at the US blue line. With Connor McDavid already in deep after a solo scoring attempt, Makar pinched at the blue line and Hughes chipped it past him, allowing for the 3-on-1 that led to the game winner.

But Makar was incredible all day, and scored the second period equalizer after Matt Boldy had given the Americans a 1-0 lead in the first.

Hellebuyck was unbelievable in that third period, making that magical stick save on Toews and stopping Macklin Celebrini on a clear cut breakaway. Jordan Binnington made a late game-saver on Matthew Tkachuk as well.

The third period was also marked by some curious officiating where the United States got away with a painfully obvious too many men call. It wasn't as bad as Czechia's six-man goal scoring effort that was ignored in the quarterfinals against Canada, but no one noticed that one. In this case, everyone in the building was screaming for a call.

Then, when Hughes was high-sticked, Canada got a 4 minute minor for drawing blood. When Hughes clipped Horvat a couple of minutes later, also drawing blood (according to rinkside analyst Mike Johnson), it was just a two minute minor instead of four, which would have also carried into overtime.

The Canadian heartbreak was compounded by seeing the great Sidney Crosby spend what may be his last Olympic experience in the press box, out again with the lower body injury he suffered in the quarterfinals.

Canada put on a performance the nation can be proud of, but as every hockey fan knows, the better team doesn't always win in this crazy sport, especially when the random insanity of 3-on-3 sudden death overtime is introduced.

But it should be said that America might well have been the team of destiny this time around.

Their win comes on the anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, which was the last time they won at the Olympics. It's also Johnny Gaudreau's son's birthday.

Gaudreau would certainly have been on this roster but he and his brother Matthew were tragically killed in a highway accident while riding their bicycles in 2024. They weren't forgotten by the Americans at any point in this tournament.

There was a locker room shrine with Johnny's No. 13 jersey in their locker room for each game, and when the winning USA players skated around with American flags on their backs on Sunday, the team's captains carried his jersey around. They even brought Gaudreau's kids out for the official celebration photo, an image they will surely cherish for a lifetime.

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk has a lot of special memories with Gaudreau. He would love to be having fun and celebrating with him in Italy tonight, just as he famously did a few years ago, dancing with Gaudreau on his shoulders at Kevin Hayes' wedding.

For Senators fans, the silver lining includes Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson arriving back in Ottawa, walking on air, with Olympic gold medals in tow. They're hoping that the victory serves their team well as everyone officially gets back to their full-time jobs on Thursday, hosting the Detroit Red Wings, and readying for what they hope is a late season Stanley Cup playoff push.

Now that Tkachuk has had a taste of a championship, Ottawa would like to think he'll be thirsty for more and we get more scenes like this...

Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa