USA BEATS CANADA IN OT FOR FIRST MEN'S HOCKEY OLYMPIC GOLD IN 46 YEARS

 

Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Jack Hughes took a hockey blade to the teeth in the third period, but found revenge with a dramatic one-timer in overtime to lead Team USA past Canada for the Americans' first men's hockey Olympic gold medal in 46 years Sunday in Milan, Italy.

"This is all about our country right now," Hughes said on the NBC broadcast. "I love the USA. I love my teammates. It's unbelievable. The USA hockey brotherhood is so strong. We have so much support amongst players. "I'm so proud to be American today."

The New Jersey Devils forward beat Canadian net minder Jordan Binnington for the golden goal 1:41 into the 3-on-3 bonus period of the 2-1 gold medal game triumph at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

The score sealed the 2026 Winter Olympics title exactly 46 years to the day of the Americans' Miracle on Ice victory from the 1980 Winter Olympics

It also resulted in the first men's and women's hockey gold medal sweep for the United States at the same Olympics.

Teeth-cracking physicality was matched only by scintillating speed in the rivalry matchup, with the world-class rosters foiling vicious offensive assaults.

Canada, who played without its injured captain, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, for the second consecutive game, outshot Team USA 41-26. Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck totaled 41 saves.

"He was our best player by a mile," Hughes said of Hellebuyck. "Unbelievable game."

Binnington made 26 stops, but allowed first blood on his first save opportunity six minutes into the finale. Minnesota Wild forward Matt Boldy brought the initial lamp lighting.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews found Boldy behind the Team USA blue line to start the breakaway. Boldy flipped the puck up with his blade and juggled through Canadian traffic. He then faced up with Binnington and slid the puck by the St. Louis Blues goalie's right knee pad.

Canada proceeded to launch a deluge of daggers at Hellebuyck in the American net, with seven of the next eight shot attempts. But the Canadians couldn't beat the Winnipeg Jets goalie until Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar equalized with 1:44 remaining in the second period.

The deep red sweaters swarmed Hellebuyck down the stretch and increased their physicality, including a high stick from Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett to Hughes' teeth, but could not find an opening against the American goaltender, resulting in overtime.

Hellebuyck proceeded to use every inch of his frame to deny Canada's Connor McDavid-led attack until Hughes beat Binnington to end the finale.

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski received the puck behind the American net at the start of the final play. He poked a pass forward to Hughes, who stabbed the puck away from Canada.

Werenski recovered the possession along the right boards as Hughes skated wide left. Werenski then found him again with a feed inside the left circle.

Hughes pulled back his stick shaft and unloaded, pelting a screamer by Binnington's for Team USA's third men's hockey Olympic gold medal.

"Unreal game by our team," Hughes said. "Just a ballsy, gutsy win. That's American hockey right there. That's a great Canadian team, but we're USA. We are so proud to be American. Tonight was all for our country."

Hughes finished the tournament as Team USA's top goal scorer, with four over six appearances in Milan. His brother, Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes, logged an assist in the victory to push his total to a team-leading seven.

Hellebuyck's 95.65% save percentage was the best among Olympic goaltenders.

McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) finished the 2026 Winter Olympics with a tournament-best 13 points, from 11 assists and two goals.

Winning moments from the 2026 Winter Olympics

- Alex Butler

THE PANTHERS ARE BACK IN THE STANLEY CUP AFTER LOSING IN THE TITLE ROUND LAST YEAR

AP Photo 

 SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The 2023 Stanley Cup Final had just ended, the Vegas Golden Knights were celebrating their championship and a heartbroken bunch of Florida Panthers were taking off their skates for the final time that season.

In that moment, standing in the locker room, Aaron Ekblad made a vow.

“We'll find a way to come back next year,” the veteran defenseman said.

Look, it's not exactly uncommon for some semblance of that to be said by the team that gets a championship shot and falls short. But these Panthers actually delivered on that promise — a rarity in hockey. Florida is back in the Stanley Cup Final, becoming just the second team in the last 40 years to lose in hockey's title round one season and return the following season.

The Panthers won their second consecutive Eastern Conference title on Saturday night, topping the New York Rangers 2-1 to win that series in six games. The most recent team to lose the Cup final one season and return the next was Pittsburgh, the Sidney Crosby-led team that lost to Detroit in 2008 and beat the Red Wings in 2009. Before that, it was 1983 and 1984, when Edmonton lost to the New York Islanders one year and then topped them in five games the next for Wayne Gretzky's first Cup.

“Just a lot of motivation, dedication, commitment," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “The right pieces were added. Some great pieces added. Just one mindset: to do whatever you can to get back to it. And I thought the guys that were here last year have done an unbelievable job, coming back for the start of camp with this on their minds. So, we are not done yet.”

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is Saturday; if Florida plays Edmonton, the Panthers will play host for the opener, and if Florida plays Dallas it'll be the Stars with home-ice advantage.

Florida’s top 10 scorers from last season all remain with the Panthers, and big moves were made after losing to Vegas as well. Florida added a trio of defensemen — Oliver Ekman-Larsson, former Panthers player Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola, all of whom played big roles throughout the season. Kevin Stenlund was added to bolster the forward corps, and Cup winner Vladimir Tarasenko came to Florida in a late-season trade. Tarasenko scored the series-clinching goal against the Rangers.

“If you make it to the final, I don’t know how many teams actually get better the next year because you're usually paying a bunch of guys because they got to the final and the salary cap changes and you're going to lose some guys," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Our hockey team got better from last year to this year. We had good men last year and I still love that year and I'll love that year separately and differently than any other year that I've coached. But we got better.”

The scenario — losing in the title round one year, going that far again the next — is seen far more regularly in other major sports than in the NHL.

In the NBA, the runner-up one year has made the finals the next season 26 times in 77 years, winning 14.

Baseball has seen the World Series loser return to the next Fall Classic on 29 occasions in the last 120 years, three of those — Kansas City in 2014 and 2015, the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 and 2018, and Houston in 2021 and 2022 — coming in the last decade.

In the NFL, the Super Bowl loser has played in the next Super Bowl eight times, going 3-5. The last time it happened: New England, which lost Super Bowl 52 to Philadelphia and won the next year against the Los Angeles Rams.

It has happened 21 other times in the NHL, but in fairness, most of those instances were in a very different NHL. When the Rangers did it in 1932 and 1933, there were nine teams. When St. Louis did it in 1969 and 1970, there were 12 teams. In the more than half-century that has followed, it’s happened only four times in the NHL: Boston lost in back-to-back finals in 1977 and 1978, then Edmonton, then Pittsburgh and now Florida gets its chance.

“I think it just comes down to our heart and our will,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. “We want it bad, and it's one thing to say you want it but to actually go out there and prove that every single night with how hard you're going to work is a different story. We want it bad.”

- TIM REYNOLDS