Heading into the 4 Nations championship game on Thursday, everyone knew there was a lot on the line.

No international competitions for NHL players in nine years. A chippy, back-and-forth round-robin matchup. A battle for country and pride that - in the current political climate - transcends hockey.

And a "prove-it" bout for a USA team that was, arguably, drawn up from the best talent pool the country has ever seen.

Unfortunately, that talent pool doesn't include 97 or 87 - both of whom will go down as two of the greatest players in hockey history. 

For the second consecutive time in an international title-clinching game - the last time being 15 years ago at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games - Team Canada defeated Team USA, 3-2, in overtime. 

And for the second consecutive time, the best player in the world made it happen.

By all measures, this game was always going to be close - and it was. 

It was a tightly-contested game for pretty much its entirety. Canada got off to a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game, as Nathan MacKinnon threw a seeing-eye shot towards the net and past USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. Brady Tkachuk tied it with little more than three minutes left in the period on a fortutitous bounce at the net front, with a pass down low from Auston Matthews going off his skate and in.

Team USA pulled ahead seven minutes and 42 seconds into the second period with a Jake Sanderson goal, then Sam Bennett scored for Team Canada with exactly six minutes left in the second period. 

The third period was electric, with back-and-forth action and chances being traded left and right. Canada hit a post. USA had a partial breakaway.  Both teams jostled to get the clinching goal, but regulation wasn't enough.

And then - just like Sidney Crosby before him 15 years ago  - the best player in the world came through for his team and his country.

Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington made some ten-bell saves earlier on in the overtime period to keep Canada's hopes alive. And on an overtime faceoff eight minutes and 10 seconds in, Connor McDavid - unexpectedly - tried to go forward and succeeded.

He shot a puck that went wide of the net and careened off boards and up to defenseman Cale Makar, who quickly distributed the puck back down along the wall to Mitch Marner.

Marner - in the right corner - found a wide-open McDavid in the slot, and he put a perfect pass on the tape. McDavid picked his spot and fired the puck past Hellebuyck, and wheeled around to the boards in celebration of Canada's second consecutive "Golden Goal."

"He's got a ton of pressure on him," Crosby said of McDavid. "Obviously, he had an incredible year last year and went to Game 7 [of the Stanley Cup Final]... he does so much for his team, for the league. There's a lot of expectations, and if anyone can relate to that, I think it's me. I think knowing what he puts into it and seeing him get rewarded like that... it's huge. He's a big-game player - he's proven that throughout his career - but I'm sure this one means a lot to him, and it means a lot to us."

And it's clear exactly how much pressure was on McDavid and Team Canada heading into this one - and how much the players felt that. Crosby acknowledged the importance of Canadian pride and winning the gold for their country.

When McDavid's shot went in, all of Canada could breathe a sigh of relief and rejoice in celebration, as many of them - including their head coach, Jon Cooper - knew that this moment was much bigger than hockey for Canada.

"I just hope Canada's proud," Cooper said. "Because every player in that room is proud to be a Canadian. And, yeah, did we need a win? Not only our team, but Canada needed a win. And the players bared that on their shoulders, and they took it seriously. 

"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."

MacKinnon - one of Crosby's closest friends - took home tournament MVP honors. And he, like his teammates, couldn't wait to celebrate yet another huge international win for Team Canada.

When asked how they were going to celebrate?

"A lot of beers," MacKinnon said. "A lot, a lot of beers."

For some, this "Golden Goal" felt like a "passing of the torch" moment from Crosby to McDavid. But McDavid himself shut down that notion about his childhood hero.

"Well, I think you're going to see Sid in 12 months," McDavid said, referring to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan. "So, I don't see a passing of any torch."

Maybe McDavid is just being humble, maybe he makes a great point. Regardless, one of the most powerful images from the postgame was Crosby and McDavid embracing in championship celebration for the first time at the international level, something the world has been robbed of for the past decade.

And that includes Crosby.

Yes, he's won everything there is to win in the sport of hockey. He's been a member of the IIHF "triple gold club" since 2015, when he led Canada to a World Championship title to add to his already-existing resume of a Stanley Cup in 2009 and Olympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014. And he's the only player in history to accomplish all three of those things as captain.

In unofficial terms, he became a member of the "quadruple" gold club in 2016, when he led Canada to a World Cup (not recognized by the IIHF), and on Thursday, he made himseld part of a Crosby-exclusive "quintuple" gold club when he led Team Canada to 4 Nations gold.

The shame of it all is that Crosby - for his entire career - has just kept on winning. And the hockey world could have seen a whole lot more winning in those nine years when Crosby and McDavid never shared international ice together.

Still, he did win again. And he did lead Canada to gold for the fifth time in his storied international career. Even former Boston Bruin and future Hall-of-Famer Patrice Bergeron couldn't help but notice when he showed up at T.D. Garden after the game to meet with some of the players.

"You just keep winning, huh?" Bergeron said to Crosby, who was greeting Bergeron's kids.

Crosby just smiled.

He knows it.

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