U.S. takes gold with 2-1 OT victory over Canada in Olympic women's hockey final

MILAN — United States wins its third Olympic gold medal in women's hockey, beating Canada 2-1 on Megan Keller's goal in overtime.

U.S. captain Hilary Knight prolonged her final game at the Olympics by sending the game to overtime.

Knight deflected Laila Edwards’ shot past Ann-Renee Desbiens with 2:04 left in regulation and the U.S. skating 6 on 5 with goaltender Aerin Frankel pulled for an extra attacker. The goal was her 15th at the Olympics, the most in team history.

Canada had led since Kristin O’Neill scored short-handed less than a minute into the second period, ending the U.S. shutout streak at 352 minutes, 17 seconds. Desbiens and Frankel went save for save in a back-and-forth game that was far more competitive than the rivals’ first meeting in the preliminary round, when the U.S. routed Canada 5-0.

The Americans romped through the tournament, outscoring opponents 31-1.

The U.S. and Canada have met in all but one Olympic final — the 2006 Turin Games won by Canada — since women's hockey made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Games.

Knight, 36, has already announced these will be her U.S.-record fifth and final Games, with a second gold medal to go with her three silvers. The game was played a day after Knight proposed to U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe.

The defending Olympic champion Canadians have shown signs of age during a tournament in which they lost 5-0 to the Americans in the preliminary round, and eked into the final with a 2-1 win over Switzerland.

Switzerland beat Sweden in overtime in the the bronze medal game on another clutch goal by Alina Muller.