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Most memorable World Cup of Hockey moments

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey has provided some unforgettable hockey, from Nathan MacKinnon's overtime strike for Team Europe to Carey Price standing on his head for Team Canada. Here's a look at some of the top plays of the best-on-best tournament.

Marchand's short-handed score seals it for Canada

Brad Marchand's shorthanded goal with 43.1 seconds remaining in regulation lead Team Canada to a 2-1 championship victory over Team Europe on Thursday night. It was his fifth goal of the best-on-best tournament. When he jumped over the boards for the penalty kill, teammate Jonathan Toews had the puck in the offensive zone when Marchand was in an all-out skate to get into the play. Toews left the puck for Marchand, who beat Europe goalie Jaroslav Halak with a sniper of a shot from the slot. --Joe McDonald

Nathan MacKinnon, North America stun Sweden

When he scored it, Nathan MacKinnon thought it was the goal that would advance North America into the World Cup semifinals. You could see it in his face, you could see it in his celebration. His teammates too, they thought this was it. They mobbed MacKinnon with a fervor worthy of a team moving on after beating Team Sweden 4-3 in overtime, with MacKinnon making a series of dazzling moves to beat Henrik Lundqvist. It wasn't until MacKinnon was about to go on TV in a postgame interview immediately after the game that reality hit. Seconds before going on camera, he was told that the Russians still had to lose to Finland to keep the kids alive in the World Cup because of North America's loss to Russia earlier in the World Cup. Russia prevailed, sending North America home -- but not before its young guns put on quite a show. --Craig Custance

Sidney Crosby gets the better of Alex Ovechkin again

World juniors, NHL playoffs, men's world championships, Olympics and now World Cup: Crosby owns Ovechkin by any definition. In the World Cup of Hockey semifinal, No. 87 rose above everyone else yet again, while No. 8 struggled mightily. No question, if you had Crosby and Ovechkin swap uniforms that night, Ovechkin might have had a better chance of scoring with Team Canada boasting a deeper squad. But the point is, it was Crosby who led the way, it was Crosby with the superb takeaway on the opening goal, it was Crosby who set up Brad Marchand just 1:12 after Russia had taken a stunning 2-1 lead in the second period. --Pierre LeBrun

King Henrik holds down the fort

So many questions have surrounded Henrik Lundqvist since the end of the 2015-16 NHL regular season. Many wondered whether he was nearing the end of an incredible career. The offseason was unlike any he had experienced in the past. He spent it preparing for this best-on-best tournament in the hope that he could rejuvenate his career for the New York Rangers. Well, Lundqvist proved that he should still be considered a world-class goalie. He was outstanding in a 36-save, shutout performance over Finland. --Joe McDonald

Russia stages comeback against North America 

Ovechkin and Russia got the young stars back on their heels and took control of the game during a six-minute span. Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko scored on consecutive shots during a 6:14 stretch, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves on 45 shots to hand the 23-and-under mix of American and Canadian players its first loss of the tournament.

Auston Matthews arrives

Before playing a single NHL game, the Toronto Maple Leafs' No. 1 overall pick has already sent a message to the stars of the league that they will need to be ready for him. Matthews not only scored two goals and added an assist, he also put 10 shots on goal in three games, a pace that would match some of the NHL's elite. Matthews' experience playing in the Swiss league (NLA) against a number of ex-NHL players and longtime professionals evidently helped him prepare for the big leagues.  --Matthew Coller

Bad blood boils over between Team USA, Canada

Nine members of this U.S. team were in Vancouver in 2010, when they lost to the Canadians in the gold-medal game. And 14 players were in Sochi in 2014, when Canada shut out the Americans 1-0 in the semifinals; that loss, followed by an ugly 5-0 loss to Finland in the bronze-medal game, was a powerful motivating tool for the Americans coming into this tournament. The first pretournament game between these two teams -- when Team USA center Ryan Kesler was ejected for hitting Canadian defenseman Shea Weber from behind, and officials missed another dangerous situation when American T.J. Oshie rammed Canada's Logan Couture into the sideboards from behind -- showed that bad blood.

Jaroslav Halak stands on his head

Halak, who was not even guaranteed a job with Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey, backstopped the team to an unexpected berth in the finals against Canada. "You got to believe in the player next to you that he will do the job," Halak said after the Europeans upended heavily favored Sweden in overtime in the semifinals. "I think that brought us together. We all knew we had to play better and try to improve every game, and I think it's been working well so far. Making the finals, it's unreal. It's going to be a huge game for us." 

Tomas Tatar's overtime goal ousts Sweden

  A team made up of players from eight smaller hockey nations in Europe -- formed ostensibly to round out the eight-team tournament field -- upset a highly skilled, heavily favored Team Sweden 3-2 in overtime to move on to face undefeated Canada in a best-of-three final. No one gave Team Europe a proverbial snowball's chance in Hades to beat a Swedish team that boasted the deepest defense in the tournament, led by two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman and a skilled, experienced forward corps that included Nicklas Backstrom and the Sedin twins, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin. But there were the Swedes, watching incredulously as Team Europe gathered in one corner of the Air Canada Center ice to jump up and down in unison after Tatar converted a hard Mats Zuccarello cross-ice pass into the dramatic game winner just 3:43 into extra time. --Scott Burnside

Carey Price stonewalls Europe

 Canada picked a bad time to have its least impressive performance in the World Cup of Hockey, but the team improved to 5-0 in this best-on-best tournament and gained a 1-0 lead in this best-of-three championship series, thanks to goaltender Price, who was outstanding the first two periods before his teammates cleaned it up in the third en route to victory.

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