For nearly 58 minutes, all hope looked lost for Team USA.
But a late goal in regulation and a quick one in overtime flipped the script, giving the U.S. an improbable 2-1 win over Canada for the women’s hockey gold medal.
It’s the Americans’ first gold medal since 2018 after losing in the final to Canada in 2022, 2014 and 2010.
The U.S. previously defeated Canada 5-0 in group play. They entered the final having outscored opponents 31-1 at Milan Cortina, including a stretch of 28 consecutive goals and over 350 consecutive shutout minutes.
But it wasn’t that easy in Thursday’s final, which Canada led for the majority of the game.
Kristin O’Neill gave Canada the advantage in the second period, scoring a shorthanded goal to send the U.S. team scrambling. Over a hectic second and third period, Canada appeared to be in control — until the final minutes.
U.S. captain Hilary Knight scored on a deflection off Laila Edwards’ shot, breaking the all-time U.S. Olympic goal-scoring record and sending the game to overtime. That score came just moments after the U.S. pulled goaltender Aerin Frankel to gain an extra attacker.
In the extra period, which was 3-on-3 hockey, both sides had plenty of quick scoring chances.
No one capitalized until Megan Keller, who found the back of the net on a breakaway with 15:53 left in the overtime. Taylor Heise got the assist on a leading outlet pass to set up the goal.
Keller, a 29-year-old from Michigan who plays for the Boston Fleet and went to Boston College, scored three goals in the Olympics.
After the game, Knight spoke with NBC about her game-tying and record-setting goal.
“We definitely had to will something,” Knight said. “We came out a little slow in the first, started to pick up momentum in the second. The third, when you have a one-goal deficit against Canada, a great team, you have to find the back of the net, especially against a great goaltender. We knew it was a matter of time, just leaning on them, slowly, slowly. But you can also run out of time against a great team. Fortunate that we have an amazing squad to be able to get the job done.”
Knight also left the door open for returning in future Olympics, despite previously saying Milan Cortina would be her last. The 36-year-old star, who got engaged to Team USA speed skater Brittany Bowe in Italy this week, had three goals and three assists in the tournament.
Thursday’s victory against Canada capped off a dominant tournament for the American women, who went 7-0 with a 33-2 goal differential.
Keller and Caroline Harvey led all players with nine points in the Olympics. Hannah Bilka was tied for the most goals with four, matching Sweden’s Thea Johansson.
On the goaltending side, Frankel allowed just two goals over 303:84 in net — good for a 97.94 save percentage.
Team USA now has three women’s hockey gold medals in its history (1998, 2018, 2026), trailing only Canada with five. The U.S. and Canada are the only two nations to win gold in the sport since it debuted in 1998, and they’ve played each other in every gold medal game except 2006 (Canada vs. Sweden).