Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of overtime to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the United States on Thursday night as the North American rivals turned what had been a tuneup for the 2026 Olympics into a geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy.
Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson scored for the Americans, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots in regulation and three more in OT. The U.S. has lost all but one game against Canada in best-on-best international play dating to the preliminary round of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics; the lone victory was in the 4 Nations round-robin Saturday, a game so good it turned Thursday’s sequel into one of the most anticipated international hockey events in decades.
