TORONTO -- 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 on Thursday (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) to keep the kids alive in the World Cup because of North America's loss to Russia earlier in the World Cup.
MacKinnon's initial thought? Unprintable.
Then he joked with North America teammate Auston Matthews that perhaps he shouldn't have celebrated so hard since they still might be going home.
The North Americans need a Finland win to survive in this tournament despite playing the two most entertaining games of the World Cup and despite revealing to the hockey world that the talent coming in this generation is as good as any the sport has seen.
This might be it for North America. And it's an absolute shame if it is.
"I think we definitely have turned some heads," Connor McDavid said. "People didn't know what to expect when we came into this tournament, but we've beat two good hockey teams, and ultimately maybe even should have beat the Russians. I think we've definitely turned some heads and opened the eyes of everyone what the future of the NHL is like."
They have shades of the 1980s Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Oilers in them, a brand of hockey the sport hasn't seen in decades. With the Swedes earning a point by getting to overtime, Sweden and Canada are on a collision course to face each other in the World Cup finals, which is fine. They deserve it. But we've already seen that.
We'll never see anything quite like what Team North America has produced. McDavid is a generational talent. He's the best NHL player to come into the league since Sidney Crosby, and he's playing on a line with the next great star of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Matthews, as if they've been playing together for years.
MacKinnon has re-emerged as one of the great young players in the game. We all knew he could skate like the wind, we had no idea he could be such a force around the net. And that move on Lundqvist -- unbelievable. That's a future Hall of Famer he beat that badly.
"He had a lot of time. I'm just not that patient," said Lundqvist, whose 45-save performance was the only reason the Swedes were in overtime to begin with. "I made the first move and I lost."
Johnny Gaudreau is a Patrick Kane-esque superstar who is finally getting the stage to show off a skill set that has already won over the city of Calgary.
There might be another World Cup. There might even be another Team North America. But there won't be anything quite like this.
Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, who has seen as much great hockey as anyone alive, was watching this game at home in Buffalo and spoke for a legion of hockey fans who have fallen for Team North America.
"I'd like to see them play again," he said during a Wednesday evening phone conversation.
We all would.
He loved the style of play. North America coach Todd McLellan has let his horses run. He has them playing enough defense and, with assistant coach Dave Tippett's assistance, developed a shut-down penalty kill. Bowman appreciates the tempo in which the kids have played the game in this tournament.
"The best part of the game is the teams, they don't trap. It looked like an old-time hockey game," Bowman said. "They're not all trying to block shots back in their own end. They're on the fast break. That's what makes it exciting. That's why they get breakaways. They were counting on their speed and their defense was holding up."
While we were all admiring the move MacKinnon made on Lundqvist to win it, Bowman noticed the play Gaudreau made to chase down a rebound and get the puck to MacKinnon for the winner.
"Gaudreau really made a great play on that goal," Bowman said.
It was like that all game. Matthews was stick-handling from his knees. McDavid was flying at mach speed through the neutral zone. Gaudreau was electric on breakaways.
At one point, there was a North American power play and the puck was being moved around between Jack Eichel, McDavid, Matthews, Shayne Gostisbehere and Mark Scheifele -- each an emerging star in their own right.
Ten years from now, 20 years from now, hockey fans will remember those moments. That is, unless the kids get a chance to replace them with new ones later on in the World Cup.
Finland, you know what you have to do.
