{"id":139500,"date":"2026-02-20T01:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139500\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:04:08","slug":"megan-kellers-masterful-goal-makes-the-u-s-queens-of-hockey-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139500\/","title":{"rendered":"Megan Keller\u2019s Masterful Goal Makes the U.S. Queens of Hockey Once Again\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN \u2014 Leonard da Vinci\u2019s \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d painting is housed in this city, at the former Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. That\u2019s a few kilometers from the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, where Thursday night the United States and Canada\u2019s women\u2019s teams produced a masterpiece of an Olympic gold medal game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Applying bold brush strokes with her hockey stick, American Megan Keller ended it with \u201cThe Last Shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keller\u2019s sudden-death, golden goal<\/a> was a work of art, an extemporaneous display of skill and daring that was the only fitting way to end this overtime epic. Taking a brilliant, half-rink outlet pass from Taylor Heise, Keller began attacking at the Canadian blue line from the left wing\u2014in the three-on-three overtime format<\/a>, there was plenty of open ice in which to operate. She maximized the chance with a fancy maneuver young hockey players will be trying to mimic for years to come.<\/p>\n

With Canadian defender Claire Thompson trying to close the distance between them, Keller took the puck wider left, outside her body, inviting Thompson to lunge forward for a pokecheck. Then the Boston College product essentially broke Thompson\u2019s ankles\u2014she slid the puck past her, cut sharply to the center of the ice and got it back on her stick in front of Canadian goalie Ann-Ren\u00e9e Desbiens.<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/p>\n

Megan Keller (5) scored the game-winning goal four minutes into overtime to win gold for Team USA. | Erick W. Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

Here, at last, was a clean look at the goal the Canadians had defended so tenaciously all night. Keller backhanded the puck between Desbiens legs. It dribbled into the net, and the U.S. won a classic battle of the game\u2019s two super powers, 2\u20131.<\/p>\n

Keller was acting in the moment, creating something on the fly. She was going for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about it going into overtime\u2014not playing not to lose, playing to win,\u201d Keller said. \u201cI think a lot of times you get a little nervous trying to make a move. I thought, \u2018Why not? Let\u2019s take a chance here and try to get to the net.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Keller said she has tried that maneuver \u201cmaybe in practice, I don\u2019t know. I wasn\u2019t really thinking or planning anything. Just taking what was given.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan Keller’s goal SEALED THE DEAL for the gold! \ud83e\udd29 pic.twitter.com\/guXeBiDhZE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In point of fact, this was a game the juggernaut American team had to take. The proud Canadians, in a rare underdog role, refused to give it away.<\/p>\n

For nearly 58 minutes Thursday night, a star-spangled nightmare was unfolding for the U.S. women. A prolific scoring machine had stalled. An impenetrable defense had been pierced\u2014just once, but that looked like it would be the difference between gold and silver. A team that had never trailed for a minute of this Olympic tournament found itself behind for a prolonged period of time.<\/p>\n

We had seen individual athletes succumb to the withering pressure of the Olympics<\/a> many times over the last two weeks. Now we were watching an entire team buckling.<\/p>\n

The Americans romped to six straight victories<\/a> in this tournament prior to the gold medal game, with a 31\u20131 goal differential that included five straight shutouts. That included a 5\u20130 shellacking of Canada<\/a> last week that seemed to not just suggest a changing of the guard, but to shout it. The younger, faster American team was coming for the crown that their neighbors to the north have usually worn.<\/p>\n

If you stripped away history and just looked at the current iterations of these two teams, the rematch figured to be another beatdown. But hockey is Canada\u2019s game, and heading into this matchup its women\u2019s team had won five of the seven gold medals since it became an Olympic sport. The U.S. had captured the other two, so this meeting was business as usual.<\/p>\n

The first period quickly established that the beatdown of pool play would not be repeated. Canada got better scoring chances, while also packing in doggedly on the defensive end in support of Desbiens. The score after one was 0\u20130, the first time in this tournament that the Americans weren\u2019t leading heading into intermission.<\/p>\n

The second period turned a battle into a crisis for the U.S. Canada put a short-handed goal<\/a> on the board 54 seconds into the period, then withstood increased offensive pressure from the Americans. The Canadians threw everything they had in front of the U.S.\u2019s offensive thrusts\u2014bodies, sticks and Desbiens. On the few occasions when the Americans got a good look at the net, they misfired or couldn\u2019t get a stick down.<\/p>\n

The burden kept increasing on the shoulders of the favorites.<\/p>\n

\"Canada<\/p>\n

Canada took the lead on a shorthanded goal to start the second period. | Erick W. Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to play in-their-face, relentless hockey, and we did,\u201d said Canadian star Marie-Phillip Poulin<\/a>. \u201cI was really proud of how we showed up tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada was just a little more than two minutes away from walking out with an all-time program win, a final act of defiance from an aging roster (Canada had a roster full of PWHL<\/a> pros, while Team USA brought seven college players to the Olympics). But the U.S. kept coming, with brilliant goalie Aerin Frankel keeping her team in the game. Finally, the Canadian defensive wall cracked.<\/p>\n

American defender Laila Edwards wound up with the puck out front, with time and space to wind up and fire a rocket. Seeing her in position, U.S. captain Hillary Knight\u2014the team\u2019s heartbeat<\/a>\u2014hustled herself into position in the crease.<\/p>\n

\u201cI better get set up,\u201d Knight said she thought to herself in that moment. \u201cShe\u2019s going to rip that puck, and either I get a piece of it or it\u2019s going to go right in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/p>\n

Hilary Knight (21) scored with 2:04 left in regulation, and in the process secured the record for most Olympic goals (15) and points (33) in U.S. hockey history\u2014men\u2019s or women\u2019s. | Erick W. Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

Knight\u2019s stick got a piece of the shot, deflecting it perfectly into the net\u2014the last goal of her accomplished career<\/a>, with retirement from the international game now at hand. Very nearly out of time, the American women found a way to make a play with just two minutes left in regulation. What looked like a devastating loss became a rejuvenating tie and an overtime pressure cooker.<\/p>\n

But simply getting the game into OT shifted the burden. Canada had played a near-perfect game, had an epic upset within reach, and then had to regroup. The U.S. had renewed confidence.<\/p>\n

Knight\u2019s message to her teammates at that point: \u201cWe\u2019re going to win the game. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

They did, on the dazzler from Keller. The emotional eruption thereafter was a classic hockey scene\u2014sticks and gloves flying everywhere, players hurtling over the bench, everyone enveloping Keller in a massive, blue-jerseyed group hug.<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/p>\n

Team USA avenged its loss to Canada in the 2022 Beijing Games with a 2\u20131 thriller in Milan. | Erick W. Rasco\/Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n

The Canadian reaction was stark and painful. Heads dropped and bodies bent over double, and stayed that way.<\/p>\n

One of the cruel elements of Olympic pomp is that the losing team must spend a small eternity on the ice waiting for the medal ceremony. Twenty-five minutes passed, as preparations were made and the U.S. team kept rejoicing. The Canadians stood silent and still\u2014nobody moving, nobody smiling, misery personified. Thompson, the defender beaten for the golden goal, folded her arms tightly across her body for a very long time.<\/p>\n

When they handed out the medals, the Canadians glumly accepted them. This was one of the saddest collections of silver medalists ever seen.<\/p>\n

They put everything they had into this hockey work of art. But the final brush strokes belonged to the United States and Megan Keller, and \u201cThe Last Shot\u201d will be remembered as her masterpiece.<\/p>\n

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