Jack Hughes' goal gives U.S. men's hockey its first gold since 1980 in stunning fashion

MILAN — Forty-six years to the day after the U.S. men's hockey team paved the way to Olympic gold with a miracle, it earned gold again, this time with a sudden-death stunner.

Jack Hughes instantly moved into the annals of U.S. Winter Olympic history when he received a pass from Zach Werenski 1:41 into overtime and fired the puck between the legs of Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington to beat Canada 2-1 and send Santagiulia Arena into a raucous celebration.

"This is all about our country right now, I love the U.S.A.," Hughes told NBC after the game. "I love my teammates."

It marked only the third time the U.S. has won gold, following wins in 1960 and the “Miracle On Ice” team that shocked the Soviet Union on Feb. 22, 1980, then later went on to beat Finland in the gold-medal game.

The U.S. had been denied gold medals in 2002 and 2010 by Canada. Keith Tkachuck, the father of U.S. brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuck, had played in that 2002 loss to Canada, and Brady said that though he had not heard many stories about the game, "basically all I’ve heard is that there’s just a lot of regret if you don’t win."

There were no U.S. regrets Sunday, just a rumble of crowd noise inside a sold-out arena overwhelmingly filled with Canadian fans as the score went final and the U.S. grabbed a gold medal multiple generations had failed to do.

USA players celebrate winning the men's gold medal ice hockey match against Canada on Sunday.Alexander Nemenov / AFP - Getty Images

Hughes called the win, played on the final day of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics — the first played with NHL players since 2014 — "a ballsy win. That's American hockey right there."

The victory earned the U.S. a golden sweep of hockey at these Winter Games, coming three days after the U.S. women also beat Canada in overtime.

In that extra period, with the teams reduced from five-on-five to three-on-three, the U.S. opened with Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes and Matt Boldy and immediately created a shot for Hughes, who whipped the puck directly toward the net — right into the left-handed glove of Binnington.

But the U.S. maintained pressure on Canada, which had largely dominated possession when at equal strength at five-on-five but couldn't keep up in extra time with the ice more open.

Moments later, Hughes swooped into position for Werenski's pass, getting his shot off just before Canada's Connor McDavid could get in front for a block. One year earlier, McDavid had scored Canada's game-winning goal to beat the U.S. in a heated "Four Nations" tournament that set the stage for Sunday's gold-medal showdown.

After U.S. players had mobbed Hughes near the boards following his goal, teammates including Brady Tkachuck took a lap around the rink holding aloft a jersey for Johnny Gaudreau, the American star who was killed along with his brother, Matthew, in August 2024, when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles near their New Jersey hometown.

Hughes called U.S. goaltender Connor Hellebuyck the teammate with the best performance of the afternoon, after he survived myriad Canadian opportunities to record 41 saves, while giving up just one goal, to Cale Makar in the second period.

Boldy gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead six minutes into the opening period.

Canada outshot the U.S. 19-8 in the second period, but could only produce Makar's goal to level the score.

Canada then opened the third period as the aggressor again, taking eight of the period's first nine shots to nearly double the U.S. attempts in the game, 36-17.

Under that constant pressure, Hellebuyck stretched, lunged and twisted to deny repeated Canadian rushes, at one point using his stick to push away the puck, only inches before it crossed the goal-line. Canada nearly took a 2-1 lead again when a puck went over Hellebuyck's pads, headed toward the net, when Charlie McAvoy of the U.S. swatted it with his glove.

With 11 minutes to play in the final period, Canada had a wide-open opportunity when Hellebuyck's attention drew him to the left side of the goal, only for the puck to find Canada's Nathan MacKinnon on the right. But he misfired.

The U.S. would soon receive its own golden opportunity.

With 6:34 to play before overtime would start, Canada's Sam Bennett received a four-minute penalty for a high stick when Hughes was hit in the face so hard he lost several teeth, his mouth still bleeding even after overtime. Canada not only killed that four-minute penalty, it soon had its own five-on-four advantage when Hughes — the very player who had drawn the four-minute penalty — was called for his own high sticking with less than two minutes to play in regulation.

The U.S. emerged from that power play unscathed with 80 seconds to play, and survived until extra time began.

It set up the overtime heroics of Hughes. With Mike Eruzione, who scored the game-winning goal to beat the Soviet Union in 1980, watching from inside the arena, Hughes broke a nearly half-century wait to return to the top of the Olympic medal podium.

"That's exactly how we wanted it to go," Hughes said. "We wanted to go through Canada and beat them."