NHL
Canada has beaten Sweden 4-3 in overtime on Mitch Marner's winning goal in the opening game of the 4 Nations tournament in Montreal.
Nathan MacKinnon gave Canada the lead just 56 seconds into the game, scoring on the power play after a sweet assist by Sidney Crosby. Later in the first period, Brad Marchand doubled Canada's lead with a simple tap-in from Brayden Point's pass.
Jonas Brodin pulled a goal back for Sweden midway through the second period, benefitting from a screen to beat Jordan Binnington. Mark Stone restored Canada's two-goal lead near the end of the second period with a one-timer off of Crosby's pass.
Sweden cut its deficit to one again early in the third period as Adrian Kempe beat Binnington with a wicked wrister. Sweden tied the game at 3-3 midway through the third as Eriksson Ek finished from point-blank range after a great fake by Jesper Bratt.
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How Canada’s stars escaped Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off overtime win: Takeaways
Crosby may be the tournament’s oldest player at age 37, but he sure looked like Sid the Kid of yesteryear.
Late to officially commit because of an upper-body injury, Crosby showed no signs of the ailment during a terrific performance. Not only did he set up MacKinnon with a beautiful pass, he skated deep into Sweden’s zone in the second period and, with Gustav Forsling defending, Crosby pulled up, turned and set up Stone’s one-timer for a 3-1 Canada lead.
It was a big goal at the time because Sweden had been pushing hard in the period, turning a 7-3 shot deficit into 13-12 at the time of the Stone tally.
GO FURTHER
How Canada’s stars escaped Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off overtime win: Takeaways
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When Canada scored 56 seconds in, it was natural for all to think a rout was in the offing.
Not so fast said a couple of longtime pals from Karlstad, Sweden.
Eriksson Ek and Brodin, a couple Minnesota Wild first-round picks who hail from the same small hometown in Sweden, live on the same lake in the offseason and played their Swedish Elite League hockey for their hometown Farjestad, each scored goals to give Sweden a stunning chance.
Brodin, a 2011 first-round pick and playing his off side on Sweden’s top pair with Victor Hedman, snapped a shot through a screen after some hard work by Lucas Raymond to cut a 2-1 deficit in half.
Then, at 8:59 of the third after Raymond won a 50-50 puck off a faceoff, Jesper Bratt hit Eriksson Ek with a cross-crease pass for the tying goal.
The biggest concern heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off was the probability that an important player could be injured in an invented tournament before returning to his NHL team for the season’s stretch drive.
After all, as Hall of Fame hockey writer Michael Farber quipped, this is a tournament with no past and no future — this is a one-off until the 2026 Olympics and the 2028 World Cup of Hockey that’s expected to include eight teams.
Well, early in the second period, those fears came true when Theodore hurt his right arm on an innocuous check from Adrian Kempe. Theodore went to the bench with his arm pinned to his body. After being looked at by the athletic trainer, Theodore skated to the exit and headed to the medical room.
After the game coach Jon Cooper said that Theodore has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Travis Sanheim will replace him in Canada’s lineup.
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How Canada’s stars escaped Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off overtime win: Takeaways
Of the many incredible moments that happened Wednesday night, including Canada’s Mario Lemieux, Sweden’s Daniel Alfredsson, the United States’ Mike Richter and Finland’s Teemu Selanne taking part in the ceremonial faceoff, the funniest thing that may have happened was Marchand getting an exaggeratedly loud ovation inside Bell Centre.
Habs fans detest the Boston Bruins star/agitator, yet Marchand heard it from the Canadian faithful when he gave Canada a 2-0 lead on a perfect two-on-one pass from Brayden Point in the first period.
Marchand got a kick out of it on the bench with an almost, “How do you like me now, folks?” smile.
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How Canada’s stars escaped Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off overtime win: Takeaways
It took just 12 seconds of power-play time for Canada’s top unit to strike, with MacKinnon converting a slick cross-crease backhand pass from his good friend, Crosby, shortly after William Nylander was sent off for high-sticking.
Canada devoted a significant chunk of time to special teams work during its practices Monday and Tuesday, knowing that it could be a difference-maker in the tournament.
Fittingly, it was Crosby who led those discussions, urging teammates not to overpass or overthink things. With Makar at the point, MacKinnon and McDavid on the flanks, Sam Reinhart in the bumper and Crosby at the net front, there’s no shortage of weapons to punish opponents with the man advantage.
“We just did something with Sid and he made a good point: ‘You’re trying to communicate as much as possible just to really get a feel for what guys like to do and then when it’s game time we’re just playing, so the talking’s over,”’ MacKinnon said Tuesday. “We’re trying to just build as much chemistry as possible. I think when you do speak a lot to each other and try to really break things down there’s less guessing out there.
“You have a plan.”
While MacKinnon and Crosby spend plenty of time training together during the summer in Halifax, this is the first time they’ve played on the same team since winning gold for Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Championships.
The tournament-opening goal should ease the nerves of MacKinnon, the reigning Hart Trophy winner who acknowledged feeling the pressure to deliver on home ice.
“It’s an important event,” he said. “Obviously, we all take representing Canada very seriously. We know we have a ton of support. That pressure, I think it’s a good thing, it means you’re doing something important.”
Connor McDavid says the 10-minute overtime is a good “trial run” for NHL games because nobody wanted to see this go to a shootout.
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Elijah O: Where are the clowns who were in here the last few months moaning about how “no one cares about this made-up tourney” and “this is just a glorified All-Star Game”??? Absolutely electric first game.
Mark H.: Great hockey throughout the whole game. Credit to the players for showing out.
Carl P.: Hey Marner, you're great, you're clutch, we always knew you're an elite player and you show up when it counts. Contrary to the Leafs' captain, you sincerely know what it means to wear Canada's maple leaf, and you left your ego home to wear red. You're welcome to Montreal whenever you want to play for another winning team! Sincerely, a Habs fan.
Gregory K.: What a great game. I was really hoping the Minnesota Wild…I mean Swedish team would pull through, if they would have started like they finished I think the end result would be different. Defense really got better, just wish the United States faced them before they figured that out.
Cale Makar left it all on the ice for Canada.
Makar led all players in ice time with 28:06 tonight. His three blocked shots were tied for the most by a Canadian player while the Colorado Avalanche star also registered two shots and two takeaways.
Shea Theodore's second-period injury left Canada with only five defensemen for the second half of the game. Makar stepped up in response.
Terrible scene in Montreal, where as soon as the overtime hit five minutes all the players got too tired to keep going. Fans were begging for a shootout but the players brought out little cots and curled up for naps.
The NHL warned us this would happen. We should have listened.
So, quite a sensational way to start the tournament as Canada wins it in overtime. Keep in mind, though, that's only two points for Canada, as you can only earn three points in this tournament via a regulation win. Still, I'm sure Canada will take it.
Team USA will take on Finland tomorrow night. The Americans will be fairly heavily favored against banged-up Finland.
Tomorrow will be fun, but let's be honest, it's hard not to think about Saturday night already. USA. Canada. In Montreal. Make sure you celebrate Valentine's Day on the actual day on Friday. Go out to dinner. Have a romantic night. Whatever. Make sure Saturday night is all about hockey, because that has all the makings of being a very special game.
From a Canadian standpoint, however, this night is probably tough to beat, given Crosby's performance and that Canada won in dramatic fashion. The best news for Canada might be that Connor McDavid was fairly quiet, and Canada still won. One would think he will erupt at some point.
Speaking to TNT, Mitch Marner also had a nice quip regarding the Bell Centre crowd: “Nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me.”
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Mitch Marner doesn't receive many cheers when he's at the Bell Centre with the Toronto Maple Leafs but tonight was a rare exception for the Canadian forward.
Marner received a major ovation after scoring Canada's overtime winner and when asked by TNT's Jackie Redmond, he admitted the goal was a special moment for him.
"There's nothing quite like that, I have been in some crazy atmospheres in this building, but tonight was special," Marner said in the postgame interview.
"It's a pretty special moment to be honest," he added. "Sid (Crosby) went up the ice, I knew he saw me behind him and I tried to give myself space to get a gap and attack the d-man as quick as I could. I got the shot off and luckily it went in."
Brilliant performance from Sidney Crosby all night long. Three primary assists, all of them spectacular in different ways. Nothing surprising. But still remarkable.
Mika Zibanejad's game could be summarized by him taking an unscreened slap shot from the far boards during 3-on-3 overtime.
Canada 4 – Sweden 3 (Overtime)
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Takeaways
Sweden went toe-to-toe with the world's No. 1 ranked team and although they fell just short of an upset win, Sam Hallam's squad deserves major credit.
The Swedes looked down and out in the second period after falling down 3-1 but rallied to force overtime thanks to goals from Adrian Kempe and Joel Eriksson Ek. Despite poor nights from Elias Pettersson and Mika Zibanejad, Sweden's scoring depth was on display.
Goaltender Filip Gustavsson overcame a rough start to finish with 24 saves. Although he would want a few of those goals back, the Minnesota Wild's No. 1 delivered a solid performance.
Sweden can't let their heads hang too long because a rivalry showdown with Finland quickly comes on Saturday. A bounce-back victory will be Sweden's aim, and they are certainly capable of doing so after rallying tonight to force overtime against Canada.
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I may have missed the swath of alleged criticism for this tournament but I don't see the problem. European hockey and numerous other sports have highly successful friendly international events.
That sure lived up to the billing.
After so much anticipation for the first best-on-best tournament featuring NHL players in nine years, after so much suspense to see what Canada could do by teaming up stars Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and legendary Sidney Crosby on the same ice surface, Sweden came oh-so-close to stunning Canada in the scintillating first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
After blowing a two-goal lead, Canada pulled off a 4-3 victory late in an end-to-end, exhilarating overtime when Mitch Marner whizzed the winner past Filip Gustavsson.
The round-robin tournament awards three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win and one for an overtime loss, so Canada essentially lost a point in the standings.
Read more on a thrilling start to the 4 Nations Face-Off here.
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How Canada’s stars escaped Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off overtime win: Takeaways
Sweden will open Saturday's schedule with a 1 p.m. ET puck drop at Bell Centre against rivals Finland. That game can be watched on ABC and ESPN+ in the U.S. and on Sportsnet in Canada.
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