It was another instant classic between the United States and Canada for the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics as it took overtime yet again.
Megan Keller snuck a backhand past Ann-Renée Desbiens 4:07 into overtime off a long pass from Taylor Heise to clinch the gold medal in the United States’ 2-1 win over Canada on Thursday.
Keller made an inside out move on Claire Thompson, and her shot snuck through the Canadian goaltender. It is the third gold medal for the Americans at the Olympics, their first since 2018.
After a back-and-forth first period that saw Canada put together a much better start, they ended up opening the scoring with a shorthanded goal.
The puck bounced loose to the neutral zone, and Laura Stacey won the race to it. It created a two-on-one with Kristin O’Neill. Stacey made the pass to O’Neill, who deked to her backhand to beat Frankel. It was the first goal against the United States in 352:17.
The Americans pushed hard in the third period, but the shots were 8-8 in the final frame. Canada had a late power play in the third period, but were unable to score to double their lead.
With 2:23 remaining, and an offensive zone face-off, the Americans pulled Aerin Frankel for the extra attacker. It didn’t take long for them to find the tying goal. Hilary Knight tipped Laila Edwards’ point shot to tie the game in her final game at the Olympics.
Earlier in the day, Alina Müller scored in overtime to secure the bronze medal for Switzerland against Sweden in a 2-1 win.
