Either team could have won, but in the end, Canada sent the home fans home happy.
After a pre-game ceremony bringing out several of the game’s stars of the previous era, including Mario Lemieux and Daniel Alfredsson, many of the game’s current superstars got ready to play in the first true international best-on-best game since the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as Canada hosted Sweden in the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off. As the lineups were introduced for Team Canada and Team Sweden, no player received a louder ovation than Sidney Crosby, whose résumé includes the golden goal in Vancouver in 2010.
It wasn’t long until the Bell Centre crowd was cheering again. Sweden’s William Nylander was called for high-sticking Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon, and it took just 12 seconds of power-play time for MacKinnon to punish that mistake. An excellent passing play from some of Canada’s top offensive talent saw the puck go from Connor McDavid to Crosby at the side of the net, and Crosby sent a spinning backhand pass to MacKinnon across the crease for a one-time goal that brought the partisan crowd to its feet.
CROSBY. MACKINNON. PAS LE TEMPS DE NIAISER! 🚨 #4nations
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McDavid tried to immediately follow up his secondary assist with another highlight-reel goal. He had the crowd cheering his every move as he dangled through the offensive zone before looking for Cale Makar, but the play didn’t result in a goal.
With that level of play set as the benchmark, the fans in attendance patiently waited for the next great chance, The lull in the crowd’s energy was also reflected in the play on the ice as the Swedes settled themselves after the early flurry and Canada dropped its intensity from those opening shifts that netted an early 1-0 lead.
Despite Sweden getting the game to a style they were more comfortable playing, it took just one neutral-zone turnover to double the deficit they faced. Defenceman Colton Parayko collected the puck near Canada’s blue line and he got it to Seth Jarvis, quickly moving it up to Brayden Point for a two-on-one with Brad Marchand. As Swedish defenceman Jonas Brodin couldn’t decide whether he should take away the pass or the shot, Point sent the pass across to Marchand, who snapped the puck in to make it 2-0.
Brad Marchand doubles the lead 🚨
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Sweden’s attempt to neutralize the game after the opening goal did little to increase their chances of climbing back into it. When the horn sounded for the first intermission, they had only one more shot on Canada’s net than Canada had put into theirs.
Slowly but surely, Sweden pulled itself into the fight by locking down Canada’s offence and getting a few more shots of their own. Just before the second period reached its midpoint, their sixth shot of the frame came off the stick of Brodin, and he made it a one-goal game.
Jonas Brodin puts Sweden on the board
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With the score at 2-1 and the game at a standstill the next goal was going to be an important one. The advantage went to Canada in the final minutes of the period with Crosby featuring in the scoring once again. Holding the puck below the goal line, he found the stick of Mark Stone low in the zone, and the Vegas Golden Knights captain made it a 3-1 score.
Mark Stone…but Sidney Crosby! 🚨 it's 3-1 Canada
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Sweden didn’t just accept its fate. Two minutes into the third period, Adrian Kempe shot from the right circle and solved Jordan Binnington, the second clean shot to beat the goaltender in the game.
Adrian Kempe brings Sweden within one
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McDavid attempted to restore the two-goal lead with an end-to-rush. He saw a wobble from the defenceman who tried to match his speed as a chance to attack, but he ran out of reach on his wraparound attempt and the opportunity was missed.
A few minutes after that chance, Sweden found the equalizer. A cross-crease pass was a bit too hard and bounced off the stick of Joel Eriksson Ek, but he stuck with the puck and batted it past a sprawling Binnington.
Joel Eriksson Ek ties it at 3
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The tying goal gave the Swedes a big dose of confidence, and the Canadians perhaps a bit of panic, and Sweden began to string some shifts together with the puck in the offensive zone.
Another of Canada’s three-way passing plays should have given them the lead back. Should have, except for an excellent blocker save from Filip Gustavsson on Devon Toews.
game-saver from Gustavsson
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In a trend of the game, a missed chance from Canada resulted in one for Sweden. On this occasion it was a high-sticking penalty on Josh Morrissey that put the Swedes on a power play with a chance to claim its first lead. Canada’s penalty-killers did a strong job of killing off the minor, leaving five minutes of regulation play for the teams to find a winning goal.
Canada had a couple of looks in the dying seconds to find a late goal, but Sweden prevented anything overly dangerous from developing, and the game went to a 10-minute three-on-three overtime period.
The first real chance to score was launched by Mika Zibanejad. The puck was on a trajectory to beat Binnington five-hole, but the goalie’s stick stayed in position to deflect the puck away and over the glass.
With that chance, the game opened up a bit. with teams looking for shots to find the quick ending rather than just trying to maintain possession.
A scramble in front of Binnington saw two Swedish [;auyers dive into the crease trying to jam it in and get a critical opening win. That left just one back to defend a rush with all three Canadian skaters, but the rush was too slow, and MacKinnon didn’t even turn it into a shot.
With 3:54 to play, Mitch Marner picks up the puck and saw a bit of space to walk into. He got a good shot away from the circle, and beat Gustavsson to give Canada the first ever victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Crosby earned his third primary assist of the night on the play as he was named the player of the game.
Mitch Marner gets the OT winner for Canada
