After dominating all tournament long, Team USA beat Team Canada 2-1 in overtime on Thursday to claim its third gold medal all-time in women’s hockey.
Canada led the majority of the game, thanks to a shorthanded goal off the stick of Kristin O’Neill 54 seconds into the second period. That lead stood until there was 2:04 on the clock in the third, at which point Utah resident Hilary Knight tipped a shot past Ann-Renée Desbiens to send it to overtime.
“We had a one-goal deficit against Canada — great team — you have to find the back of the net, especially against a great goaltender," Knight said in an interview broadcast on USA Network after the game. “So, 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. (We’re) fortunate that we have an amazing squad to be able to get the job done.”
Overtime was back and forth, but it was eventually decided by defenseman Megan Keller, who made a great move to get around the opposing defender and tuck the puck in.
Knight’s goal gave her sole possession of the all-time goal-scoring lead among American women at the Olympics, breaking a three-way tie between herself, Kathryn King and Natalie Darwitz. She had previously announced that this Olympic tournament would be her last, but when asked after the game whether that would be her last Olympic goal, she left it open-ended.
“We’ll see,” she said with a smile.
Team USA allowed just two goals during the tournament — one in the opening game and one in the gold medal game. Its shutout streak lasted a record-setting five games for a total of 331 minutes and 23 seconds of playing time.
