Jack Hughes sinks golden goal to help US win first men's hockey Olympic gold in 46 years

MILAN, Italy — Just as it did in 2010 when the Winter Olympics was held in Vancouver, the men's hockey gold medal match featuring the United States and Canada was decided in overtime.

This time, the result was different.

Just 1:41 into overtime Jack Hughes' shot slid under the pads of Canada goaltender Jordan Binnington to win gold for the US for the first time since 1980.

The golden goal from Hughes came exactly 46 years to the day of the when the US last won gold after they had previously defeated the Soviet Union in one of the biggest upsets in sports history on their way to gold.

It was Hughes who won the game for the US but Connor Hellebuyck made the biggest impact in the win. Hellebuyck made 41 saves on 42 shots from Canada and he turned away plenty of great looks to prevent the game from getting out of hand.

Matt Boldy opened the scoring when he beat two Canadian defenders to sink the first goal of the game. From that point on it was all Canada. The Canadians outshot the US 42-28 and kept that pressure consistent as they dominated much of the game.

Even with the increased pressure, Hellebuyck stayed calm and delivered.

Back-to-back penalties on Team USA gave Canada a two-man advantage for about a minute and a half but the US penalty kill, which has shined all Olympics, prevented Canada from taking advantage.

Hellebuyck made a trio of huge stops and the first came against Connor McDavid to prevent a breakaway score from one of the best players in the NHL.

Cale Makar was finally able to end the shutout bid from Hellebuyck with a one-timer goal in the second period. Bo Horvat won the faceoff in the US zone and Devon Toews retrieved the puck to find his Colorado teammate Makar who finally got a shot past Hellebuyck.

Hellebuyck's two other clutch saves came in the third period when he made a stick save on Toews to wipe away a point-blank goal. Nathan MacKinnon had another great look for Canada but Hellebuyck once again made the save to stop the snap shot.

A double minor on Canada's Sam Bennett for high sticking gave the US a four-minute power play and the opportunity to potentially score the game-winning goal in regulation.

However, a penalty on Jack Hughes helped Canada escape the remaining time on the US' man advantage to give both teams 49 seconds of four-on-four play.

The US successfully killed off the remaining power play time for Canada and the clock hit double zeroes to send the gold medal match to overtime.

After escaping a two-on-one, Zach Werenski retrieved the puck in Canada's zone and passed the puck to Hughes who was skating towards the goal. Hughes collected the puck and delivered the game-winning goal.

Mammoth captain Clayton Keller is now an Olympic gold medalist after getting to represent his country on the biggest stage.

Following the win, Werenski, Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk skated around the ice draped in American flags and carrying the USA jersey of Johnny Gaudreau. Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, were struck and killed by a drunk driver in August of 2024.

Johnny's wife and kids and the rest of the Gaudreau family made the trip to Italy in time for the US' win over Slovakia and watched the team that he likely would have been a part of, win the first gold for the US in 46 years.

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