Jack Hughes' blood turned Sam Bennett's penalty into a four-minute swing
sam bennett's high stick on Jack Hughes in the tied USA-Canada gold medal game was upgraded to a double-minor when Hughes bled with less than seven minutes to play, turning a routine two-minute penalty into a four-minute advantage for the United States.
Sam Bennett's high stick and the four-minute swing
The call changed the immediate script: what would have been a two-minute penalty became a four-minute double-minor, giving the United States an extended power-play window late in a 1-1 game. The extended call arrived with under seven minutes remaining in the gold medal game and handed Team USA a crucial chance to press for the lead.
How the penalty sequence played out
More than halfway through the four-minute advantage, Jack Hughes was whistled for a high stick of his own. That sequence produced 49 seconds of four-on-four hockey before a Canada power play lasted for a bit more than a minute, shifting the on-ice manpower rhythm twice in short order and compressing several pivotal shifts into the closing stretch.
Fourth line chemistry after the Finland semifinal
Cooper's willingness to ride his depth lines traces back to Canada's 3-2 semifinal win over Finland, where a newly formed fourth line of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Tom Wilson helped sustain pressure in the offensive zone. That sustained push coincided with Shea Theodore's game-tying blast; Nathan MacKinnon later wired a one-timer off a Connor McDavid cross-ice pass on the power play to complete the comeback after Sam Reinhart had opened scoring with a tipped power-play goal.
The semifinal performance forced a shift in judgement about usage. Tyler Yaremchuk said he had tweeted that sam bennett shouldn't see the ice after the high-stick penalty, only to note that Bennett "saw the ice a ton in that hockey game, and he goes out there and that line was awesome. " The fourth line's prolonged zone time and physical play gave head coach Jon Cooper reason to trust all four forward groups heading into the gold medal matchup.
Why the Rat Line matters beyond agitation
When Tom Wilson, Brad Marchand and Bennett take the ice, their physical style is unmistakable — but it also creates scoring chances. The trio’s blend of nastiness and finishing touched off momentum in the semifinal: they "shifted the game, " McDavid said, and Wilson described the unit as "controlled chaos, " noting how the three players quickly aligned on how they wanted to play together. Observers pointed out that Bennett "only operates at one level, a relentless force of grit and hockey sense, " a trait that showed up in both pressure and possession time.
Those qualities matter because they force opponents into reactionary shifts and penalties; in the gold medal game, sam bennett's penalty and the subsequent exchanges produced multiple swings in manpower that directly affected the late-game sequence of play.
Canada and the United States are scheduled to meet in the gold medal game on Sunday, with both teams carrying the semifinal momentum and the late-game penalty drama into the deciding matchup.
