Canada gets revenge in 4 Nations final, downs Team USA in overtime to claim title

The USA chants were a little louder this time around.

The landmarks were lit. A-list actor Kurt Russell gave a phenomenal pregame speech to the USA locker room thanks to a little Hollywood magic. And while the gloves didn’t drop at opening face-off this time around, both teams came out hot.

The Americans fired up the rematch with a few good looks in the first five minutes, including a couple shots on net from Lightning forward Jake Guentzel. But it was Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon who opened the scoring, sniping a beauty through five bodies of traffic to leave goalie Connor Hellebuyck guessing.

The U.S. didn’t waver. With three minutes left in the first, Auston Matthews found Brady Tkachuk going to work in front of the net for a strong chip-in over Jordan Binnington—a classic Americana, roll-up-your-sleeves goal to tie it up, if you will.

The battle continued in the second, with the Americans taking the lead off a Jake Sanderson score off the rebound midway through the second. The U.S. even kept the momentum rolling through a tough Vince Trocheck tripping, killing the penalty against the vaunted, big-three line of death. But the Canadians fired back when the U.S. got comfortable, with Sam Bennett sending one home to even the score 2-2.

The numbers backed up the eye test after two periods, with both teams tied at 19 shots and two goals apiece.

Both defenses clamped down for a scoreless third, highlighted by yet another relentless block from American defenseman Jaccob Slavin, whose been heralded as one of the unsung heroes of this tournament for Team USA.

And then, who else?

In overtime, after a peppering of opportunities on both ends, Connor McDavid finally hit the dagger to send Canada to 4 Nations glory.

68 minutes of hard-nosed hockey—sealed by arguably the best player in the world. If it isn’t the storyline you asked for, it’s the one that makes the most sense.

For Bolts fans, Canada’s championship victory puts Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, head coach Jon Cooper and GM Julien BriseBois at the winning podium of the biggest hockey movement in decades.

And as for a silver lining for Team USA: “Free Bird” is still a pretty great pick-me-up song, too.