[ConservativeStatement]

I remember that game and the goal. It was the first game of the tourney. IIRC, there was a scenario that if the US had lost to Finland, there was a scenario in which the Americans would have benefited from a Soviet win over Sweden to be played later that day.

[Alberta's Child]

That's right. If the U.S. had lost to Finland, then both teams would have been 1-1-1 in the medal round. If Sweden had defeated the Soviets, then Sweden would have won the gold with a 1-0-2 record and the Soviets would have been out of the medal count with a 1-2-0 record.

From the research I've done, it looks to me as if the only way the U.S. might not have won any medal at all after beating the Soviets was a scenario where they lost to Finland, and the Soviets and Sweden played to a tie. The U.S. could have lost out on tiebreakers in that case, depending on the goal differential in the medal round.