Womens Hockey Usa: Knight’s Tying Blast and Keller’s OT Winner Deliver Dramatic Olympic Gold
The Womens Hockey Usa team staged a dramatic comeback to claim a 2-1 overtime victory in the Olympic women's hockey final on Feb. 19, 2026 (ET), capped by a late game-tying goal from Hilary Knight and an overtime winner by Megan Keller.
Womens Hockey Usa captain Hilary Knight forces OT with late equalizer
With the Americans trailing and having pulled their goalie in desperation, Hilary Knight redirected a point shot from Laila Edwards with 2: 04 left on the clock to knot the score at 1-1. The goal snapped the shutout, energized the U. S. bench and extended the gold-medal match into overtime.
Knight’s equalizer carried added significance: she moved past the previous mark for career Olympic goals for the U. S. and now holds the record outright. That tying tally also gave her a new career points milestone in Olympic competition. The goal came after a period of near-total dominance earlier in the tournament, in which the Americans had outscored opponents 31-1 and had gone 16 consecutive periods without giving up a goal.
Megan Keller’s overtime strike seals 2-1 victory
Just over four minutes into overtime, Megan Keller produced the decisive play. Taylor Heise initiated the sequence by catching the Canadian team in an ill-timed line change and sending a length-of-the-ice pass to Keller. Keller then maneuvered around a defender and fired a shot that slipped through the legs of the Canadian goaltender for the golden goal, completing the U. S. comeback and delivering the gold medal.
The final sequence underscored the Americans’ resilience: an earlier late-game rally to force OT followed by a quick, opportunistic finish in sudden death. The combination of Knight’s veteran poise in the waning minutes and Keller’s finishing touch in overtime produced an imperfect but resilient 2-1 result that ended the championship match in dramatic fashion.
What this result means for the roster
The comeback victory over Canada in the gold-medal contest enhances the case for this group as one of the nation’s most accomplished lineups. Key moments—the redirected shot by Knight off Edwards and the timely Heise-to-Keller transition in overtime—were decisive developments in a single game that swung the title back to the U. S.
For the winning team, the game will be remembered for its gut-check comeback and the late-game heroics that turned near-defeat into gold. The U. S. had been nearly untroubled en route to the final, but the climactic pairing of Knight’s tying goal and Keller’s overtime strike will define the tournament’s closing chapter.
The Womens Hockey Usa victory was a study in momentum and clutch execution: a veteran leader breaking a scoring stalemate in the final minutes and a skilled defender-forward connection finishing the job in extra time to secure Olympic gold.
