Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game preview: Canada vs. USA

Feb 21, 2026, 09:58 EST

Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game preview: Canada vs. USA

Credit: David W Cerny/Reuters via Imagn Images

Canada (4-1-0-0) vs. USA (4-1-0-0): Feb. 22, 8:10 a.m. ET

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Here we are. The main event. These two teams haven’t lost a single game at the 2026 Olympics, and they’re about to go head-to-head in a rematch of last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off Final, with even bigger implications both on and off the ice.

It’s Team Canada against Team USA. It always felt like it’d come down to this, and now, it has. And with Canada’s hockey-crazed population still smarting after the American women came away with the gold in their tournament finale on Thursday, there’s plenty of bragging rights (and political brownie points) at stake.

Friday’s semifinal games weren’t as consistently dramatic as the quarterfinals earlier in the week, but there was plenty of intrigue in Canada’s come-from-behind win over Team Finland earlier in the day. After falling behind 2-0 early in the second period, Canada ultimately prevailed with three unanswered goals by Sam Reinhart, Shea Theodore, and Nathan MacKinnon.

Team USA didn’t have to overcome much adversity to punch its ticket to the championship game, with Team Slovakia giving up the first five goals en route to a 6-2 final score. Jack Hughes led the way for the Americans with a pair of goals in the decisive victory.

WHEN THEY LAST MET IN BEST ON BEST…

Four nations, facing off.

It was February 20, 2025, exactly one month after the 47th Presidential inauguration, when Team Canada vanquished Team USA in overtime by a 3-2 final score at the deciding game of the 4 Nations Face-Off. TD Garden in Boston was the site of one of the most memorable games in recent international hockey history. The stakes seemed so high — because they were.

Team USA had beaten Canada by a 3-1 score less than a week earlier, but when all the chips were on the table, the Canadians came through. Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Bennett, Brady Tkachuk, and Jake Sanderson scored in regulation to set the stage for a winner-take-all overtime period, where Connor McDavid did the rest. When a hockey game prompts world leaders to craft new slogans based on the result, you know it’s made a pretty big impact.

TOP SCORERS

Canada
1. Connor McDavid, F: 5 GP, 2 G, 11 A, 13 PTS
2. Macklin Celebrini, F: 5 GP, 5 G, 5 A, 10 PTS
3. Nathan MacKinnon, F: 5 GP, 4 G, 3 A, 7 PTS
4. Sidney Crosby, F: 4 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 PTS
T-5. Mitch Marner, F: 5 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 PTS
T-5. Cale Makar, D: 5 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 PTS

USA
1. Quinn Hughes, D: 5 GP, 1 G, 6 A, 7 PTS
T-2. Jack Hughes, F: 5 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 PTS
T-2. Auston Matthews, F: 5 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 PTS
4. Jack Eichel, F: 5 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 PTS
5. Matthew Tkachuk, F: 5 GP, 0 G, 6 A, 6 PTS

CANADA

Question No. 1 on everyone’s minds: Will Sidney Crosby play? It sure doesn’t feel like a great sign that he couldn’t play against Finland on Friday, especially considering how close that game ended up being. Can the captain get back to some semblance of game shape in the next 24 hours?

If Crosby can’t go, or even if he’s just limited in what he can do, Canada will need somebody to step up in his wake. There are plenty of guys who could stand to do more, from Brandon Hagel and Brad Marchand to Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett. Even factoring in how much Canada levels up whenever some combination of Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, and Nathan MacKinnon hits the ice, they can’t win this game with one line.

The defense needs to play at its very best, too. It’s been an up-and-down tournament for the likes of Thomas Harley, Drew Doughty, and Colton Parayko, and with Josh Morrissey unavailable, those other guys will just need to do that much more against a high-powered American offense. Jordan Binnington seems to save his very best for these kinds of games, but again, he can’t just unilaterally save the day.

USA

It still feels like the Americans have yet to show off their full potential in Milan. They’ve got a lot of good players, and their more questionable roster selections haven’t come back to bite them — yet — but we also haven’t seen any truly transcendent performances thus far. And as is also the case with Team Canada, there are a ton of underperformers on this team who are overdue for a big moment.

The Hughes and Tkachuk brothers have been the leaders of this group, and they’ll surely drag Team USA into the fight on Sunday, but we’ll need to see more from Matt Boldy, Jake Guentzel, and especially J.T. Miller if the Americans are to win their first Olympic gold in men’s hockey since the Miracle on Ice. Mike Sullivan will also need to figure out how to get something (anything!) out of Kyle Connor or Clayton Keller.

Team USA’s greatest asset heading into the final might be Connor Hellebuyck, who is finally living up to his billing in high-pressure situations with a perfect 4-0-0 record and a .947 save percentage through four starts in Milan. Canada has already had trouble solving Lukas Dostal and Juuse Saros in the knockout stages; Hellebuyck presents an entirely new challenge.

BURNING QUESTIONS

Canada: Will Celebrini have his first iconic moment? The San Jose Sharks are going to be so, so good for a long, long time with Macklin Celebrini leading their attack. The 19-year-old center has been remarkably good in his first five Olympic games with Team Canada, scoring five goals and 10 points. He’s one point shy of tying Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu for the second-most points by an NHL player in a single Olympic tournament. (Those two used to hold the record before McDavid came along). Wouldn’t it be something if Celebrini capped all this off with a Golden Goal?

USA: Can Matthews silence his critics? Sure, it comes with the territory of captaining the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Auston Matthews still always faces an outsized amount of criticism in situations like these, and there’s no better opportunity for him to break through with a dominant performance with so much on the line. His stat line isn’t bad, but he certainly hasn’t been at the same level as McDavid or even Celebrini. Can he rewrite that narrative on Sunday?

PREDICTION

It’s a toss-up, and the dynamics could all change if Crosby is able to play. There are so many good players on both these teams, and it feels like a ton of them are due for a defining moment. They won’t all get the chance to make that possibility into a reality. And in the end, it’ll be Celebrini, already with a full career’s worth of Olympic goals in Milan, who nets the winner against the Americans on Sunday. Canada wins 4-3 in overtime.

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