Canada beats U.S. on Connor McDavid’s OT goal in 4 Nations Face-Off final
By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer
BOSTON — When they played “O Canada” for the second time, there were no American fans left in the arena to boo.
Instead, the Canadian team stood at the blue line, arm in arm, player and coach, wearing their championship hats while the maple leaf flag was lowered behind the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy and the national anthem reverberated across the Americans’ home ice. The fans who remained, many of them in their red Team Canada jerseys, sang along.
Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of overtime 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 a geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy.
Or, to put it another way: It was the 51st U.S. state 3, Canada’s 11th province 2.
“You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X in a cross-border callback to President Donald Trump’s chatter about turning one of the United States’ closest allies into the 51st state.
“A lot of stuff going on with Canada and the USA right now, and us playing against each other was kind of a perfect storm for our sport,” said Nathan MacKinnon, who was selected the MVP of the new tournament with four goals in four games. “It was much more popular than even we would have imagined. It was getting so much attention from our whole continent.”
Jordan Binnington stopped 31 shots – including the last 20 in a row – on the same ice where he helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup as a rookie in 2019. MacKinnon and Sam Bennett also scored for Canada, which made it 2-2 in the second period and then played a scoreless third.
After a flurry of saves by Binnington early in the overtime, Canada gained a faceoff in the U.S. zone and Mitch Marner got the puck along the boards before popping it into the center to McDavid for the winner. The Canadians poured over the boards to celebrate, shook hands with the vanquished Americans, and then took turns skating with the never-before-awarded trophy.
“Just to see the reaction. Just to know what it means to us. I know it’s just a quick tournament, and it’s not an Olympic gold medal or anything like that, but it means the world to our group, as you can see,” McDavid said.
“I hope (the new fans) love it,” he said. “It’s a great game, it’s a great sport and I hope we put on a good show these last couple days and gained some fans, ultimately. You can’t ask for a better show than that.”
Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson scored for the Americans, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots in regulation and three more in OT. The U.S. has lost all but one game against Canada in best-on-best international play dating to the preliminaries of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics; the lone victory was in the 4 Nations round-robin, a game so good it turned Thursday’s sequel into one of the most anticipated international hockey events in decades.
“I think guys that are at home watching this, I’m hoping they’re wanting a piece of it,” U.S. forward Dylan Larkin said. “This grew the game really well, but I hope it pushes guys to want a piece of this and then the next generation that got to watch this, they’re going to watch the Olympics next year and hopefully there’s a different outcome.”
The already ripe rivalry between the two North American hockey powers took on an added intensity during the tournament following 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 take a poke at “Governor Trudeau.”
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 a tournament that returned the NHL’s stars to the international scene after missing the last two Winter Games.
The pregame hype video was a callback to the 1980 Olympics, when the undermanned U.S. team upset the powerful Soviet machine in the midst of the Cold War. “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hero and honorary U.S. captain Mike Eruzione wore a Johnny Gaudreau jersey to honor the memory of former Boston College and Calgary Flames star who was killed by a drunk driver while bicycling in New Jersey at his sister’s wedding last summer.
The American fans chanted “John-ny Hock-ey!” to spur their team on, and broke into frequent cheers of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” – just like in Lake Placid.
But this time it was the team in red that came away with the win.
“We wanted this one,” Canada forward Mark Stone said. “You’ve got 40 million Canadians, sitting at home, and you feel the energy. Anytime you have the chance to play for our country, or the flag on our chest, it’s a special, special feeling. … It brings us together. And just glad we got to get this one.”
MATTHEW TKACHUK TRIES TO GUT IT OUT
Matthew Tkachuk did not play in the third period or overtime on Thursday, and it’s unclear how his injury might affect his return to the Florida Panthers when the NHL season resumes.
Tkachuk was injured last week in the preliminary round matchup between these teams and did not play in the round-robin final against Sweden on Monday. The U.S. did not give an update on Tkachuk’s status beyond Coach Mike Sullivan saying it was a lower-body injury.
“Obviously, he battles through absolutely everything, and, yeah, I don’t think it’s too good,” brother and U.S. teammate Brady Tkachuk said after the game. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see what ends up happening, but I know he was really disappointed.”
Panthers general manager Bill Zito was part of the U.S. management staff at the NHL-run international tournament. Zito traded for Tkachuk in a blockbuster deal with Calgary in the summer of 2022, and they won the Stanley Cup together last season.
BINNINGTON SHINES IN BOSTON AGAIN
Binnington has a knack for being at his best in big moments. And he did so again in the same building where he helped St. Louis win the Stanley Cup in Game 7 of the Final in 2019, when he stopped 32 of 33 shots to beat the Bruins.
“They had a lot of good chances, and our goalie made some real big saves,” tournament MVP Nathan MacKinnon said.
Binnington was Coach Jon Cooper’s choice to start all four games of the tournament, after Canada’s goaltending was one of the biggest questions going into the 4 Nations and many perceived them to have the weakest goaltending of any of the four teams. Binnington put himself in the driver’s seat to start at the Milan Olympics a year from now.
McAVOY WATCHES
Charlie McAvoy was one of the best American players in the first couple of games of the tournament, delivering big hits on McDavid and Sidney Crosby that helped the U.S. beat Canada the first time around. Even that night, he was playing through a shoulder injury that developed an infection and led him to being hospitalized and ruled out of the final.
McAvoy cheered on the U.S. team from the stands in a shirt and tie. He received a big cheer from his hometown crowd when he was shown on the video board in the third period.
SANDERSON SCORES
Sanderson was not on the initial U.S. roster and only got added last weekend as an injury replacement for reigning Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Quinn Hughes. He was a healthy scratch until McAvoy went down, then stepped into the lineup and scored Thursday night.
“Whether I was playing or not, just be positive, and if I was in, just keep it simple and use my feet,” Sanderson said on ESPN at intermission. “I kind of just blacked out. Great play from the guys to get the puck to the net, and I think I just got lucky there.”