Jack Hughes' OT stunner caps U.S. upset of Canada at 2026 Winter Olympics
Jack Hughes finished a dramatic gold-medal game 1: 41 into overtime, lifting the United States to a 2-1 victory over Canada on Feb. 22, 2026, at the Santagiulia Arena. The win ended a 46-year Olympic gold drought for U. S. men’s hockey and completed a golden sweep for American hockey at these Games.
Jack Hughes’ overtime winner
Hughes received a pass from Zach Werenski 1: 41 into three-versus-three overtime, swept into position and fired the puck between the legs of Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington to seal the 2-1 victory. Teammates mobbed Hughes near the boards after the sudden-death goal, and the celebration in a sold-out arena filled largely with Canadian fans was immediate and raucous.
Matt Boldy’s opening goal and early momentum
Six minutes into the first period, Matt Boldy produced the game’s opening score. Boldy split defenders Devon Toews and Cale Makar, pulled the puck around Binnington and beat the Canadian goaltender on a backhand; the strike came on Team USA’s first shot and was credited with assists to Auston Matthews and Quinn Hughes. Boldy, who plays for the Minnesota Wild, was on the Olympic roster for the first time and had a goal and two assists in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, a tournament in which the U. S. beat Canada in round-robin play but lost to Canada in the final.
Connor Hellebuyck’s 41 saves turned pressure into opportunity
United States goaltender Connor Hellebuyck withstood sustained Canadian pressure, stopping 41 of 42 shots to keep the U. S. within striking distance. Canada outshot the U. S. 19-8 in the second period and opened the third by taking eight of the period’s first nine shots, pushing cumulative attempts to 36-17 — nearly double the U. S. total. Under that constant assault, Hellebuyck stretched, lunged and twisted to deny repeated rushes and at one point used his stick to make a key play, preserving the tie that allowed overtime to happen.
Santagiulia Arena at the 2026 Winter Olympics
The gold-medal game on Feb. 22 was played on the final day of the Milan Cortina Games, the first Winter Olympics to include NHL players since 2014. Santagiulia Arena was a study in contrasts: overwhelmingly Canadian in attendance, it still saw roaring support for the U. S. as American fans — some having watched the film Miracle the night before and set early alarms — gathered in bars and living rooms in New York, Minneapolis and Milwaukee before sunrise to follow the game. The Milan metro was awash with jerseys and tributes to past and present stars — Eruzione, Gretzky, McDavid and Tkachuk — and chants of "U-S-A" and "Let’s go Canada" echoed as fans funneled into the venue. One particularly brazen fan in a USA cap tried to start a "51st state" chant and was quickly shouted down.
Rivalry, roster notes and immediate aftermath
The matchup carried weight beyond a single game. The U. S. men’s team had previously won Olympic gold in 1960 and in the famed "Miracle on Ice" of 1980; the 2026 victory is the third in program history and came 46 years to the day after the 1980 team’s triumph. Canada had denied the U. S. gold in 2002 and 2010 and eliminated the Americans in a 2014 semifinal shutout, while one year ago Connor McDavid produced a decisive goal to beat the U. S. in the Four Nations Face-Off that refreshed the rivalry. Canada reached the gold game after rallying from third-period deficits to beat Czechia in the quarterfinals and Finland in the semifinals; the U. S. had survived a quarterfinal with Sweden on an overtime winner from Quinn Hughes.
Key personnel notes accompanied the result. Canada played the final shorthanded after Sidney Crosby suffered a lower-body injury earlier in the Olympics. After Hughes’ winner, teammates including Brady Tkachuk skated a lap holding aloft a jersey for Johnny Gaudreau; Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were killed in August 2024 when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles near their New Jersey hometown. Hughes praised Hellebuyck as the best performance of the afternoon, and the victory completed a tournament sweep in which the U. S. women also beat Canada in overtime three days earlier.
What makes this notable is the combination of individual moments and team resilience: Boldy’s opening brilliance forced Canada to chase, Hellebuyck’s 41 saves created the opportunity, and Hughes’ 1: 41 overtime strike converted it into history, ending a multi-decade drought on the biggest stage of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
