4 NATIONS: McDavid scores OT winner for Canada in final to defeat the United States

BOSTON, MA – Best PLAYER in the world.

Best hockey NATION in the world.

CONNOR McDAVID and CANADA.

Oilers captain Connor McDavid buried the game-winning goal for Team Canada at 11:42 of overtime on Thursday night at TD Garden to defeat Team USA with a 3-2 victory and cap off a fantastic end to-end battle between hockey's fiercest rivals in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

McDavid found himself open in the slot to accept a feed from Mitch Marner before roofing his shot far side past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck into the top corner to send Team Canada into exuberant celebrations, keeping the Red & White atop the hockey hierarchy in best-on-best competition.

"I just couldn't believe it, really," McDavid said post-game. "Just excited for our group, honestly. Everybody was so dug in. It starts months and months ago with management going out and picking the team, the coaching staff coming together and then obviously, the players doing what we do.

"It's been a big production and it's just sweet to have it all come together. It's a confidence-builder knowing that we can play and we can beat anybody.

"That American team is as solid as you're going to find. They're solid all around, but we just found a way in a tough building just to get it done."

Despite admitting that he didn't always have his best during the deciding game, McDavid came through when it mattered most for his country and was named the Player of the Game while finishing tied for second in tournament scoring with three goals and two assists in four matches.

McDavid finished tied with Nathan MacKinnon, who scored Canada's opening goal in the first period and was named Tournament MVP.

"Really exciting. We just found the way," McDavid said post-game. "I thought everyone played solid. I wasn't great all night, but we just found a way tonight."

"Obviously it means a lot to our group. I think a lot of people were wondering what this tournament would mean to guys, and obviously, you could see what it means to everyone on our side. It was really exciting."

Canada had the dream start they wanted after opening the scoring just 4:48 into the opening frame through MacKinnon, beating Hellebuyck from the top of the circles with a seeing-eye wrister through traffic. The go-ahead tally was MacKinnon's team-leading fourth of the tournament, while defenceman Thomas Harley – inserted into the lineup in place of Josh Morrissey due to illness – picked up an assist along with forward Sam Reinhart.

The United States got it back on a scrappy goal from Brady Tkachuk, who flipped the rebound off a wrap-around attempt from Auston Matthews past Jordan Binnington to tie things at 1-1 just over three minutes before the first intermission.

The brothers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk combined for five goals and an assist over four games for the USA and were on a line together on Thursday in Boston after both carried respective injuries and illnesses into the final.

"It means everything. I think you saw everybody lay it all on the line," McDavid said. "I think the Tkachuk bros were grinding through things, Sid grinding through something, Harley stepping in again. You know, everybody laid it all out there and it just means the world to us to find a way to get it done. That's what we do."

Defenceman Jake Sanderson made it 2-1 for the United States before centre Sam Bennett responded seven minutes later for Canada by roofing a terrific pass from Marner over the right shoulder of Hellebuyck, sending a back-and-forth and evenly-matched final at 4 Nations to the third period tied at two.

If it weren't for Jacob Slavin making a pair of vital defensive plays in the final frame, Canada could've been celebrating at the end of regulation, but the Carolina blueliner was able to prevent Sidney Crosby wide-open chance thanks to a blind back-hand intervention before he stopped a two-on-one that involved McDavid later in the frame with a diving block.

Binnington was steady for the Canadians with 25 saves through regulation in the building where he won a Stanley Cup back in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues, and the Canadian shot-stopper would have to come up clutch for his nation as we headed to overtime.

"I've heard it time and time again: Binner's a winner. That's ultimately what it is," McDavid said. "He's won a big game in this building before in 2019, so he's played in big moments. The moment doesn't get to him."

Binnington absolutely robbed Auston Matthews when Jake Guentzel was alone below the Canada goal line to throw a pass onto his tape in front that needed the netminder to sprawl out and make a terrific blocker save just under three minutes into the five-on-five sudden-death period.

Just over a minute and a half later, Binnington denied Matthews again on a three-on-two opportunity before making a game-defining glove save on the rebound against Brady Tkachuk, allowing Canada to come up with the moment they needed that arrived 8:18 into overtime through McDavid.

"It was tight all over," McDavid said. "Great players all over the ice playing great defence. It wasn't great all night, but I thought we just stuck with it – our whole group. Binner was awesome. He made some amazing saves, especially there in early in overtime, and gave us a chance to go get one."

"He made probably three or four all-world saves early in overtime, so all credit to him honestly. Hopefully some of those haters will back off him, because he played great."

The Oilers captain missed wide right on a shot that came directly off an offensive-zone draw before the puck was rimmed around the boards by Cale Makar and picked up by Mitch Marner, who pulled Matthews into the left circle to leave the world's best player completely wide open in the slot.

With plenty of time and space, McDavid accepted a pass from the Toronto Maple Leafs winger and roofed the game-winning goal into the top shelf for one of the biggest goals Canadian hockey history and certainly his career before he was mobbed by his teammates coming off the bench.

"Mitchie makes a great play. That's a great play," he said. "It's kind of the system, that box-plus-one system. The centre and the D can kind of go, so if they get crossed up, that spot can be open and Mitchie did a great job of finding it."

You couldn't script it any better for No. 97, who has long advocated for best-on-best hockey and wound up notching the decisive tally in the biggest international matchup in over eight years since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey when he represented Team North America.

It's already time to start thinking about the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, where McDavid and Canada will fight to defend their crown in the pinnacle of international competition where we haven't been in over 10 years.

This was a major victory for Canada, but next year is the real thing.

"We want to do it again next February. That's what it comes down to," McDavid said. "Obviously this was great and exciting, but the focus is next February doing it in Italy."