Canada star thinks they were ‘better team’ despite loss

Team Canada star Nathan MacKinnon had a tough time accepting his team’s loss to Team USA in Sunday’s gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The United States overcame Canada 2-1 in overtime Sunday at Santaguilia Arena in Milan, even though they were on the defensive for a large part of the game. MacKinnon clearly felt that the final score was not a fair reflection of the result based on a comment he made after the game.

“You be the judge of who was the better team today,” MacKinnon said, via Joshua Clipperton of the Canadian Press.

MacKinnon’s point is likely that the Canadians outshot the Americans 42-28 and were on the attack for large parts of the second and third periods. No doubt, Canada had chances to win the game. Those chances were spurned, however, including by MacKinnon himself, who had the biggest miss of the game.

Despite the pressure they put on the Americans, Canada only beat Connor Hellebuyck once, with the American goalie turning in an all-time great performance. One can certainly argue that Canada had the better chances, but Hellebuyck’s outstanding performance counts just as much from the American perspective.