Connor McDavid overtime goal lifts Canada past United States in 4 Nations championship game
Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of overtime to lift Canada to a thrilling 3-2 victory over the United States in the scintillating 4 Nations Face-Off championship game at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday.
The loss denied the U.S. its first best-on-best international title since Mike Richter of the New York Rangers led them past Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. It also mirrored the outcome of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when the U.S. defeated Canada in preliminary-round play, only to lose the gold medal game 3-2 to Canada on Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal.
The game-winning sequence began when McDavid won an offensive-zone face-off in the left circle and quickly wristed a shot wide of the net. Cale Makar collected the puck on right wing and sent the puck around the boards to Mitchell Marner on left wing. Rangers defenseman Adam Fox was late getting to Marner, Auston Matthews strayed out of position, and no one picked up McDavid, wide open in the slot. Marner found him with a pass, and McDavid wired the OT winner into the top of the net over the glove of goalie Connor Hellebuyck, quieting the partisan United States crowd.
All four Rangers on the Team USA roster dressed for the championship game, including Chris Kreider who was a healthy scratch the first two games in this tournament. Kreider had the lowest ice time of any player Thursday, logging just 6:25 TOI, though he was credited with three hits.
Fox was held pointless for the fourth straight game and was on ice for the tying and winning goals. J.T. Miller had a strong game, but like Fox, didn’t record a point in the tournament. Miller logged 19:34 TOI on Thursday, won seven of 10 face-offs and had three hits. Vincent Trocheck lost all four of his face-offs and played just 10:03 amid concerns that he might have sustained a hand or wrist injury Monday in a 2-1 loss to Sweden.
The United States played most of the game without star forward Matthew Tkachuk, who remained on the bench but did not take a shift from late in the second period until the end of the game due to an unspecified injury.
Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson scored for the U.S., and Hellebuyck made 24 saves.
Nathan MacKinnon scored his fourth goal of the 4 Nations and Sam Bennett netted the tying goal for Canada. Jordan Binnington was outstanding in net, finishing with 31 saves, including six in overtime.
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Canada 3 – United States 2 (OT)
Chants of “USA! USA!” bellowed through TD Garden a good 45 minutes before warmups. And the fans were at a fever pitch by time Wayne Gretzky (Canada) and Mike Eruzione (United States) were introduced as the game’s honorary captains. There was mild booing of the Canadian national anthem and a rousing sing-a-long of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Then it was finally time for hockey. And these teams didn’t disappoint. Instead, they lived up to the massive hype, and probably surpassed with a heart-stopping 68 minutes of back and forth hockey.
Despite an early push by Team USA, it was Canada that scored first. MacKinnon took a feed from defenseman Thomas Harley in the offensive zone, floated to his right and mid-motion wired a shot through a maze of players that beat Hellebuyck above the blocker to make it 1-0 at 4:48 of the first period.
Hellebuyck was strong the rest of the period after surrendering the first goal. He was especially good when Canada went hard to the net trying to jam shots home from in tight, including a pair of Seth Jarvis attempts early on and then tight pad stops on Bennett and Brad Marchand at 13:46.
Kreider was on ice for each of those shifts.
The United States tied it at 16:52 when Brady Tkachuk skated into the low slot and chipped a Matthews pass just past Binnington’s blocker for his third goal of the tournament. Two minutes later, Tkachuk kept the building rocking when he smoked Harley into the end boards with a massive hit.
The physical play went both ways. Fox was leveled to the ice on a Bennett check at 5:45; and Sidney Crosby was buried trying to get to a rebound by U.S. defenseman Brock Faber.
Canada had an 11-10 shots advantage in the first period. Team USA flipped it in the second, up 9-8 in shots.
Sanderson buried a rebound at 7:32 of the second to give the United States a 2-1 lead. Zach Werenski fired a long shot off Binnington’s pads, and Matthews’ rebound try was blocked by the stick of Colton Parayko. The puck caromed into the slot and Sanderson made no mistake, scoring his first goal of the tournament.
Trocheck took the game’s first penalty, a tripping minor in the offensive zone, at 8:57. Canada pressed but the U.S. killed off the penalty. Before doing so, Miller set up Dylan Larkin for a right-wing blast off a 2-on-1 short-handed rush at 10:43.
It remained 2-1 at the 12-minute mark because U.S. defenseman Jaccob Slavin tied up Crosby in front and then quickly swatted a loose puck away in the slot just as Crosby was going to poke it into the open net.
But two minutes later Canada was not to be denied. Bennett beat Hellebuyck with a short-side snipe past the blocker to tie the game 2-2 at 14:00. Marner created space by skating down the middle before dishing to Bennett on left wing and the rugged center finished for his first goal at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
It remained tied less than two minutes later because Fox made an adept block on McDavid’s shot off a 3-on-2 rush by Canada. Right afterward, Kreider crushed Jarvis with a big hit. Brady Tkachuk put a bow on the second period when he smoked Drew Doughty with another huge hit at 17:20.
Tied 2-2, the intensity ratcheted up in the third period, with some excellent chances at each end of the ice. Canada just missed taking the lead when a bouncing puck hit the post, and the United States had a string of chances, including at least three by Jake Guentzel.
MacKinnon nearly won it for Canada with 1:29 to play in regulation, taking a long pass from Devon Toews on left wing, bursting into the U.S. zone and hammering a left-wing shot off the rush that was stopped by Hellebuyck.
With under a minute to go, Miller made a brilliant play when he hustled back to his own net to pick off a cross-crease pass by Marner, who was looking for McDavid at the far post.
Team USA nearly won the game just 2:54 into overtime when Matthews powered to the net and had his one-timer denied by Binnington’s blocker. At 4:30, Binnington robbed Matthews again off the rush and dove to his left to stone Brady Tkachuk with a quick glove on a rebound try.
Binnington made a terrific glove save on Matthews from the slot a bit later. And shortly thereafter McDavid ended this fiercely competed midseason international tournament with his third goal in four games.
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