Sidney Crosby highlights stellar first game of Tournament in Canada’s win over Sweden

Team Canada barely survived comeback attempt from Sweden in 4-3 OT win.

Hockey powerhouses Canada and Sweden threw down to kick off the first-ever Four Nations Faceoff. A special ceremony featuring former legends from each nation of the tournament and the nation’s current captains took place pregame. Former hockey greats Teemu Selanne, Mike Richter, Daniel Alfredsson, and Mario Lemieux came to the center ice to officially kick the tournament off.

Recap

Star power was the theme of the first few minutes of this tournament. After the star-studded ceremony, Canada’s eye-popping powerplay took the ice. The hype around a unit with Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Nathan MacKinnon was palpable. It took them mere seconds to live up to the hype as all four of the aforementioned superstars touched the puck. It was Nathan MacKinnon who finished off the slick backhand pass from Sidney Crosby to get things started in the tournament.

Canada coming out hot was a given. Their scoring less than a minute into the game turbocharged them to another level. As mentioned on the TNT intermission, the way Canada played the first period they deserved globe trotter music in the highlight reel. Consistent pressure and possession led to some good opportunities.

Brayden Point and Brad Marchand, two players with some less-than-stellar reputations at Bell Centre got what may be their only cheers from a Montreal crowd after connecting on a clear two-on-one to extend their home nation’s lead to two.

Sweden’s big issue in the first frame was their inability to get the puck deep and work the cycle. When facing a team with Canada’s skill that’s the only counter. Sweden began to figure that out but they took their lumps first.

The second period was a much more even affair as Sweden found their game and began to test Canada’s Jordan Binnington. The big key for every team facing Canada this tournament.

The thought process behind the strategy became much more apparent when Jonas Brodin floated a wrister right over Binnington’s shoulder. There was some contention that a screen from Rickard Rakell made the shot an impossible save, but at the end of the day, it was a weak goal.

Sweden had some life and the game dropped a gear into a full rock fight for the middle section of the period. Canada’s skill struggled to shine through and Sweden was content to cycle the puck.

There was only one man who could get the Canadians out of their funk at that man was Sid the Kid. The 37-year-old showed some signs of youth when he gained a step on Gustav Forsling before dishing his second spin-o-rama backhand assist of the night, this time to Mark Stone. Life was back in the arena and in Team Canada but the third period came before they could make much of it.

The boys in yellow took advantage of the well-timed break and began chiseling away at their deficit in the final frame. The message in the locker room seemed to be “keep testing Binnington” as that’s just what Adrian Kempe did when he caught Drew Doughty with a loose gap off the rush. His shot snuck through the legs of Canada’s late addition and through the arms of Binnington to make things interesting with plenty of time to go.

Tre Kronor’s cycle took over the game and rendered most of Canada’s stars irrelevant until Jesper Bratt and Joel Eriksson Ek made a fool of the two Blues’ on Canada. Bratt caught Colton Parayko in no man’s land and made a cross-crease dish to Eriksson Ek who had nothing but net thanks to Binnington biting on Bratt.

The tie game definitely woke Canada up as they began to push back. Devon Toews and Cale Makar had a few stellar chances to regain the lead late in the third but Filip Gustavsson stood tall to send it to overtime.

The teams had become well-acquainted with each other through the sixty minutes of regulation but it seemed as though they were feeling things out to start the overtime. Both starting groups seemed scared to make mistakes on their first shift. With all the open ice and skill you’d think they would be more willing to attack, but that wasn’t the case. Until Nathan MacKinnon came onto the ice and was the epitome of “F it”. The tournament’s initial goalscorer injected some much-needed life into the sudden death period as both teams began to exchange blows. Gustavsson made a few nice saves on MacKinnon and Binnington bailed out Canada on a couple of odd-man rushes.

It’s a good thing the NHL decided to extend the overtime periods to ten minutes rather than the normal five because six minutes into the frame a winner was decided. Mitch Marner showed up in a big moment much to Leaf’s fans’ chagrin as he dialed up a wicked shot top corner to seal this game as an instant classic. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Sidney Crosby assist. I’m sure you can guess which side of his stick it came from.

Takeaways

Rather than the usual individual takeaways I’m going to keep things to a broader team scope for this tournament.

Canada:

Their star power is as good as advertised. They have all the talent they need to win this tournament. I do think they have better combinations to get the best from that talent. Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid didn’t seem to vibe well with their linemates. Despite all the Crosby and MacKinnon talk the two didn’t have much connection outside of the goal. The big issue for those two is the gap in pace, throw in Mark Stone and it gets even wider for MacKinnon. Guys like Point and Marner would be better served on MacKinnon’s wing I think. Other than that the issues for Canada are what we thought. The bottom half of their defense is two inconsistent and the goaltending is a big question mark. A guy like Parayko had his moments, good and bad, but with Theodore potentially out with injury they’re losing some serious two-way ability.

Sweden:

In direct contrast to Canada, Sweden’s lack of star power is as worrying as advertised. Their success is going to come from solid team play and working as a five-man unit. It was a slow start for them but they figured out their game as it progressed. They can give teams like USA and Finland fits if they play as they did in the second and third of this game. But when push comes to shove they don’t have many guys who can break the game open for them. Not going to 3v3 OT will definitely do them some good. We’ll see how they fare as the tournament progresses. I’m sure they’ll be competitive in every game they play.

USA and Finland continue the action tomorrow. Colorado Avalanche’s Artturi Lehkonen will be featured on the Finns’ top line alongside past potential Av Sasha Barkov and former Av (gross) Mikko Rantanen. The game begins at 6 p.m. MST and I’ll be back to fill you in for Mile High Hockey.