Marner the hero in overtime as Canada open 4 Nations Face-Off with 4-3 win over Sweden
Sidney Crosby provided three assists in the tournament-opener.
Canada opened the 4 Nations Face-Off with three points on Wednesday night, defeating Sweden in a dramatic back-and-forth game at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The festivities got underway with a pregame ceremony in which legends and captains from all four teams in the tournament — Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States — met on the ice. Auston Matthews, the American and Toronto Maple Leafs captain was met with the expected boos from the Montreal faithful, while Mario Lemieux received a deafening ovation alongside Canadian captain Sidney Crosby.
It didn’t take long for Canada to get going once the puck did finally drop, with the hosts finding the scoresheet less than a minute in. Crosby found Nathan MacKinnon in front of goal with a spinning no-look pass that his fellow Nova Scotian pounded into the back of the net.
The secondary assist went to Connor McDavid, as three of the best players in the sport combined on Canada’s high-powered powerplay unit — something hockey fans have been dreaming of during the absence of best-on-best hockey over the past decade.
Canada’s lead was doubled with just under seven minutes left in the opening frame, with Brad Marchand firing the puck into the back of a gaping net from close range. Seth Jarvis collected a banked pass along the right boards from Colton Parayko after the Canadian defender stole the puck from Filip Forsberg, before passing it ahead to Brayden Point.
Point played it laterally to Marchand, who made no mistake.
The hosts dominated much of the first period, with Sweden not able to get a shot on target in the first 15 minutes and struggling to really get anything going against the compact Canadian defence.
They found more success when play resumed, though, building some momentum and eventually getting onto the board halfway through the period off the stick of Jonas Brodin.
With several players battling for position in front of the net, Brodin was given some space all alone on the right side. He received a pass from Victor Hedman, took a step toward the Canadian net and fired a shot past Jordan Binnington to cut Sweden’s deficit in half.
Rasmus Dahlin saved a goal with a great defensive play moments later, skating behind his netminder to clear the puck off the line after it was trickling through off the stick of Crosby, who also hit the crossbar shortly after.
Crosby got his name on the scoresheet again with 2:32 left in the period though, racing up the ice to collect a pass from Mark Stone before turning and passing it back to him in front of the net. Stone, who started the play by stealing the puck off the stick of William Nylander, snapped a shot past Filip Gustavsson to restore Canada’s two-goal advantage.
That’s how the back-and-forth second period ended. Canada suffered another blow in the second period as Shea Theodore left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return, but his status for the rest of the tournament was not immediately available.
Sweden pulled one back less than two minutes into the third period. Adrian Kempe sliced through the middle of the ice on a quick counter-attack before receiving the puck and unleashing a powerful wrist shot that beat Binnington over his right shoulder.
Sweden continued to push hard, and then found an equalizer with eleven minutes left in the final frame. After Sweden won a faceoff in the Canadian zone, Lucas Raymond played a pass to Jesper Bratt, who found himself between several Canadians and their net. Bratt made a pass to the back post where Joel Eriksson Ek was left all by himself, and tucked in an easy tap-in to tie things up at 3-3.
Canada nearly responded immediately, but were denied by an athletic save from Gustavsson — who lunged to his right to make a blocker stop and deny Devon Toews. Marchand had a shot turned away by Gustavsson as well as Canada looked to get back on the board.
Neither side could find a breakthrough in the remainder of the period, however, and overtime was required to find a winner. The extra frame was three-on-three for ten minutes, opening the ice up significantly for more end-to-end rushes.
Nathan MacKinnon, Mitch Marner and Connor McDavid were front and centre in OT, using their elite speed to try and charge through the Swedish defence on several occasions. That included both being in on goal in a two-on-one breakaway, but that ended with MacKinnon choosing to shoot himself rather than pass across to McDavid, which Gustavsson turned away.
Marner ended up being the hero for Canada, receiving a drop pass from Crosby and charging into Sweden’s zone before rifling a shot into the top left corner to seal the victory.
Canada picked up three points thanks to their victory, and now has a couple of days off before another big game at the Bell Centre on Saturday night — up against the United States. After that, Canada takes on Finland on Monday afternoon.
If they finish in the top two in the four-team round robin tournament, they will play the other top two side in the 4 Nations Face-Off final next Thursday.
True North Player of the Game:
Sidney Crosby, Canada
Canada’s captain marked his return to international hockey with a vintage performance, providing a trio of assists and putting in a shift both offensively and defensively.
Remarkably, Canada is 26-0-0 in Crosby’s last 26 games with Team Canada, with Crosby scoring 10 goals and 29 points in that 15-year-long span.
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