Men's Olympic Ice Hockey
2026 Olympic
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Canada has routed France in its final preliminary game in men's hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, winning 10-2.
Nine different players scored for Canada: Macklin Celebrini with two, and one goal apiece from Tom Wilson, Devon Toews, Mark Stone, Cale Makar, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Bo Horvat and Brandon Hagel. Stone's goal came shorthanded, while Celebrini's first was scored on a penalty shot.
Floran Douay and Sacha Treille scored for France.
Canada is next in action in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, while France heads to the play-off round on Tuesday.
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Regarding Tom Wilson's fight in this game, as per the rulebook here there is no automatic suspension for fighting. But if the joint NHL-IIHF disciplinary committee saw something that it wanted to address, it could have. This was not the case in this instance. Wilson will get nothing further.
He can celebrate his Gordie Howe hat trick guilt-free.
Jon Cooper says Brad Marchand, who has not dressed the past two games, will play in Canada's quarterfinal, per TSN.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare just did a mixed-zone scrum that started in French, went to Swedish, then English, then French again, then English again. And he was gold, as always.
Speaking about Macklin Celebrini: "He looks absolutely amazing. … I think he's 19 or whatever it is. Goddamn. It's good that I stopped (playing) in the NHL because if this is what it's gonna look like, it's better for me to not be in there anymore."
Nathan MacKinnon speaking after the game, per Sportsnet: “Definitely happy to score 10, and hopefully we can score 10 next game too.”
Important to note that goal difference won't matter in Canada's next game, given it will be a quarterfinal!
As the only NHL player for France, Montreal Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier has a heavy burden. He wants to lead his team to victory, but knows how unlikely that is.
He also has the advantage of not being in awe of the NHL stars on Team Canada because he faces them all the time.
Or, he should.
Texier was talking about how he was enjoying the experience of being an Olympian on Friday after France lost to the Czech Republic, how the athletes’ village has been eye-opening for him, mingling with the world’s best winter athletes.
“There’s a lot of athletes, a lot of sports,” Texier said. “I haven’t had a lot of time to see other competitions, which I’d like to do because that would be fun. Everyone’s together, people are trading pins, everyone’s talking, it’s a totally different vibe from the world championships. It’s only once every four years, so you want to take it in 100 percent.
“I’m a competitor, I want to win, but I understand the challenge.”
When asked if there was a particular interaction with an athlete in the village that struck him, one that was memorable, Texier let out a little grin.
“Crosby,” he said, almost sheepishly.
Texier explained how the French team was walking around in the village earlier in the tournament when Team Canada walked by. They didn’t stop to chat. They didn’t interact in any way.
They were simply breathing the same air.
“He’s a hockey legend. I’m looking forward to playing Canada,” Texier said. “It was pretty impressive for our team. You need to take this in; it might be the first and the last time for our whole team. For the guys who play in France, you realize how big this is; you’re representing your country. So take in the experience and the game we have to win is our fourth game.”
In this game, France was doing more than breathing the same air. They were playing against players who took their breath away in the village.
Jordan Binnington was back in net on Sunday, which suggests that it’s very likely his net for the rest of the Olympics. Although it’s worth pointing out that he gave up two goals on just 14 shots against France and neither goal was a particularly good one to give up. He had a fat rebound on the first goal in the first period, and gave up a blast from long distance to Treille in the third period on a shot that probably shouldn’t have gone in.
Logan Thompson was very good in his start Friday night against Switzerland, but seemed to indicate in his postgame comments that he thought Binnington was going to be the guy the rest of the way.
Binnington did pitch a shutout in the tournament-opener, but the Canadian coaching staff certainly would reserve the right to change their mind if they didn’t like what they saw Sunday.
Josh Morrissey skated Sunday morning, which is a good sign for his potential return in this Olympic tournament. Head coach Jon Cooper said postgame Friday night that Morrissey was not ruled out of the tournament. But in the interim, Team Canada tried a second different option alongside Morrissey’s regular defense partner, Colton Parayko. It was Thomas Harley’s turn to skate on the second pairing, replacing Shea Theodore, who got first crack alongside Parayko in Friday night’s game with Switzerland.
Heading into the Olympics, the Canadian coaching staff had Devon Toews-Cale Makar and Morrissey-Parayko written in stone as the top four, so finding that right fit on the second pairing while Morrissey is out is a legitimate priority.
Whether it’s because the coaching staff didn’t quite like what they saw in the Theodore-Parayko fit or whether it’s because Harley’s excellent play is pushing him up in the lineup, either way, it meant breaking up the Harley-Drew Doughty pairing, which had been a thing dating back to 4 Nations.
“I love playing with him,” Doughty said Friday postgame.
Doughty was paired up mostly with Travis Sanheim in Sunday’s game, although Theodore was rotated in pretty regularly and played on the second power-play unit as the seventh defenseman.
It will be interesting to see who comes out when Morrissey returns. Sanheim was the healthy scratch in the opener and Theodore, as mentioned, gets second power-play time, so that suggests it’s probably Sanheim who comes out again.
If Morrissey is back in time for Wednesday’s quarterfinals, that’s a major boost. The coaching staff, dating back to 4 Nations, likes to use the Morrissey-Parayko pairing as an important shutdown matchup duo. Team Canada will feel better having that regular pairing back for the do-or-die games.
Cooper enticed an entire country when he put Nathan MacKinnon with Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini late in the first period against Switzerland on Friday. It went counter to Cooper’s stated pre-tournament desire to have balance up front with MacKinnon, McDavid and Crosby on separate lines, attacking teams with pace and skill.
Cooper began the game against France with that same balanced look. McDavid, MacKinnon and Crosby all had a shift only 67 seconds into the game. But late in the second period, Cooper went back to McDavid between MacKinnon and Celebrini.
When he did it on Friday, Celebrini scored on his second shift on that line. When he did it on Sunday, Celebrini drew a penalty shot on that initial shift and scored his third goal of the tournament. According to the NHL, Celebrini became the first Team Canada player to score on a penalty shot at an Olympics with NHL participation.
This option appears to be something Cooper is experimenting with in the event that, later in the tournament, Canada needs a jolt of offense. Cooper began the third period with his original line combinations, with McDavid scoring right off the initial faceoff with assists from his usual linemates, Celebrini and Tom Wilson.
If we had to guess, the nuclear option of MacKinnon, McDavid and Celebrini will be something Cooper keeps in his back pocket to use strategically: offensive-zone faceoffs, late in periods, coming out of TV timeouts.
So far, the switch has almost immediately produced a goal twice. It could come in handy when Team Canada actually needs one.
Canada is searching for another Olympic gold medal with NHL participation. They won in 2002, 2010 and 2014.
Now, they are trying to add a fourth Olympic gold with NHLers. Given how the round robin went, chances are looking great for Canada.
Four of the top-five players in terms of scoring at the Olympic men’s hockey tournament are Canadian.
Connor McDavid leads the way (9). Macklin Celebrini (6), Sidney Crosby (6) and Nathan MacKinnon round out the top five.
Here is how the seedings are shaping up right now at Olympics.
In quarterfinals:
Should Canada stay first, they will likely play either Czech Republic, Germany or Denmark.
Canada’s Travis Sanheim was the only Canadian player to eclipse 18 minutes tonight. He led Canada in total ice time with 18:53 and was a +3.
Bo Horvat led Canada in total shots with six. He added a goal in the third period.
Arpon Basu and Pierre LeBrun bring us instant reaction to Canada's dominant win, looking at:
Follow the link below to check out their takeaways.
GO FURTHER
Canada remains undefeated in men’s hockey at Olympics after cruising past France
Sidney Crosby had one goal and two assists tonight in Canada’s rout of France.
His first assist made him Canada’s all-time leader in Olympic scoring with 15, surpassing the great Jarome Iginla.
In Olympic Games with NHL participation, Canada has only lost once in the quarterfinals.
That happened in Italy, at the Turin 2006 Games, where the Canadians lost 2-0 to Russia.
Below are the nine different Canadian goal scorers in tonight’s trouncing against France:
Below are the final stats from Canada's victory over France:
Saves:
SOG:
PIM:
Time on PP:
PP goals:
SH goals:
Assuming Team USA beats Germany later today, the top seed in the knockout stage will be determined by the goal difference of the U.S. and Canada. This matters because the No. 1 seed will likely draw Czech Republic or Germany in the quarterfinals, while the No. 2 seed is likely to get Sweden – a significantly tougher matchup.
With Canada's 10-2 win, their goal difference for the tournament is now +17. Team USA's currently sits at +7.
That means the U.S. would need to beat Germany by 10 goals today to overtake Canada – an unrealistic task given Germany's talent level.