That\u2019s when Knight added a bold-faced exclamation point to her spectacular career, deflecting a Laila Edwards slap shot from the high slot through her legs and past Canadian goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens to send the game to overtime, and the U.S. won 2-1 on Megan Keller\u2019s goal 4 minutes 7 seconds into the extra period.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no way we were losing this game,\u201d Knight said. \u201cThat\u2019s all. Simple as that.\u201d <\/p>\n
The goal was Knight\u2019s 15th in Olympic competition, breaking the American record she shared with Natalie Darwitz and Katie King. It was also her 33rd point in the Olympics, breaking a record she shared with Jenny Porter.<\/p>\n
More importantly, however, it made her one of six American women to win multiple Olympic golds in hockey. The other five also played in Thursday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love this group. It\u2019s so special to be able to play at this level,\u201d Knight said. \u201cI feel a lot of gratitude. It\u2019s such a magical moment and I\u2019m just trying to soak it all in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think about all the people that helped me get here. It\u2019s really special. I can\u2019t wait to share this with some people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knight ducked her head and smiled when the medal was hung around her neck, her face a mix of pride and exhaustion. She then draped her arms around the teammates on either side of her and sang the national anthem as the American flag rose above the ice at the Milano Santagiulia Hockey Arena.<\/p>\n
With 10 gold medals from the IIHF World Championships, Knight, 36, came to Milan as the most decorated hockey player \u2014 male or female \u2014 in history. Her second Olympic gold adds to that legacy. She\u2019s also leaving Milan with her future wife because a day before the final, she dropped to one knee and proposed to speedskater Brittany Bowe, whom she met four years ago at the Beijing Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a heck of a week personally,\u201d Knight said. \u201cI think I was more nervous with the proposal than I was for the game, to be honest. To cap it off with a gold medal is really awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many Canadian players seemed to be in shock when the game ended and were in tears moments later as they made their way to their dressing room, silver medals hanging from necks.<\/p>\n
![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771548249_82_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Team USA players hold up their gold medals while celebrating after defeating Canada in Milan on Thursday.<\/p>\n
(Robert Gautheir \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to process,\u201d defender Jocelyne Larocque said. \u201cIt sucks right now. When Hilary scored it\u2019s a 1-1 hockey game. We were still confident that we could win.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then when the overtime goal goes in, it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s hard to put into words.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller had the same problem describing the golden goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m lost for words,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is an incredible feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best team I\u2019ve been a part of,\u201d she added. \u201cEvery single player is top tier, best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game wasn\u2019t supposed to be this close. The U.S. had beaten Canada 5-0 in the preliminary round \u2014 its seventh consecutive win over its northern neighbor \u2014- and had outscored its other five Olympic opponents 26-1. But for all its obvious talent, the one thing the American team lacked was experience.<\/p>\n
Twelve women were playing in their first Olympic tournament and with a gold medal on the line, they looked rattled in a scoreless first period in which they took two penalties \u2013 one for too many players on the ice \u2013 and were outshot 8-6. It was just the third time in the tournament the U.S. went an entire period without a goal.<\/p>\n
Things got even worse 54 seconds into the second period when Kristin O\u2019Neill\u2019s short-handed goal put Canada up 1-0. That snapped a 352-minute scoreless streak for the U.S. and marked the first time the Americans trailed in Milan.<\/p>\n
For much of the game Canada was faster, smarter and more poised. And Desbiens, who had been pulled from the preliminary-round loss to the U.S. in the third period after giving up five goals, was spectacular, making 31 saves.<\/p>\n
She was still protecting that late into the final period when U.S. coach John Wroblewski pulled goalie Aerin Frankel to get an extra attacker on the ice. Nineteen seconds later Knight scored to keep the Americans alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everyone\u2019s going to be great every game, but you need to somehow find ways to win each night,\u201d Wroblewski said.<\/p>\n
Knight had a chance to win it early in the three-on-three extra period but Desbiens made the save on a wrister from the right circle. Keller wouldn\u2019t be denied, however. With so much open ice, Taylor Heise was able to send a long pass up the left wing for Keller, who took the puck into the center of the Canadian zone, eluded defender Claire Thompson, then bounced it in off Desbiens.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything happens so fast,\u201d Desbiens said. \u201cOn the shots you never quite know where it goes and it squeaked in. I\u2019ll see that one for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
So will Hilary Knight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Hilary Knight was a little more than two minutes away from taking home another consolation prize as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11432,12672,423,2194,62448,16597,2871,87421,48,52,51,47,50,49,80955,5463,12391,30512,18498,73694],"class_list":["post-185356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-americans","tag-canada","tag-game","tag-goal","tag-hilary-knight","tag-hockey-team","tag-ice","tag-kristin-oneill","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-megan-keller","tag-minute","tag-overtime","tag-second-period","tag-shootout","tag-u-s-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}