2026 Olympic Men’s Hockey: Top standouts as Canada eliminates Czechia
Canada was the most dominant team in the round-robin by a country mile – but everything nearly fell apart.
Canada trailed 3-2 late in the quarterfinal against Czechia, but a Mitch Marner overtime goal completed the comeback as the Candians won 4-3 to advance to the semifinal.
Canada scored the opening goal of the game, with Connor McDavid finding Macklin Celebrini at 3:05 to show off Canada’s muscle. But goals from Lukas Sedlak and David Pastrnak about five minutes apart meant Canada was trailing for the first time in best-on-best Olympic action since 2010 – 16 years ago.
Things went from bad to worse once Sidney Crosby was forced to leave the game with an apparent leg injury. Fortunately, his Timbits buddy, Nathan MacKinnon, was able to convert on a power-play pass from McDavid to make it 2-2, easing the nerves just a little bit for Canada.
Still, the tension was high in the third in one of the best games of the tournament so far. Canada continued to lay on the pressure, but Czechia’s Ondrej Palat would score the biggest goal of his career after taking Martin Necas’ pass and scoring from the hashmarks to make it 3-2.
Canada held the pressure throughout the final stages of regulation, and it paid off. With about three mintues to go, Nick Suzuki scored the biggest goal of his life to force overtime, capitalizing on what had been a huge game for the Montreal Canadiens captain.
Marner spent most of his time getting criticized for not showing up in big moments for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But today, he scored the biggest goal of his career, scoring in 3-on-3 overtime to win the game and send Canada to the medal round.
Here’s a look at the top performers from the wild game:
Canada
#10 Nick Suzuki, C (Montreal Canadiens): It wasn’t clear what role Suzuki was going to have in this game. But once Crosby got hurt, Suzuki took his game up another level. He came so close to giving Canada the advantage in the second, and then tied the game up with three minutes to go at the end of a long shift. For someone who looked like a candidate to get scratched, Suzuki silenced some people today.
#17 Macklin Celebrini, LW (San Jose Sharks): Celebrini kept his goal streak alive, scoring his fifth goal in four games. It was a great read, with Celebrini seeing an opening near the high slot and taking full advantage of a pass from McDavid. Celebrini is the youngest player on the team and everyone knows that. But his impact has kept him in the MVP race, even if the top choice happens to be his primary linemate.
#24 Seth Jarvis, RW (Carolina Hurricanes): As the game wore on, Jarvis’ ice time started to dwindle. But for a fourth-liner, Jarvis did an excellent job of knocking guys down and forcing the puck down into the offesnive zone. Few guys play with as little fear as he does and it allowed him to be physically dominant all game long. He even had a pair of quality shots in the second period, too.
#29 Nathan MacKinnon, C (Colorado Avalanche): Canada started to get desperate in the second period, and MacKinnon was able to give them something to calm the nerves a bit. MacKinnon hasn’t looked fully healthy at any point in the tournament, but he can definitely still shoot – it worked perfectly on the 2-2 goal. MacKinnon was more of a support player in the second half but played so well in that role alongside Celebrini and McDavid. Sure, it hurt Canada’s depth, but the line clearly worked.
#97 Connor McDavid, C (Edmonton Oilers): McDavid took Canada on his back with his one. He made an outstanding pass on the 1-0 goal and then added another one on the 2-2 goal. McDavid is truly the best player in this tournament – the top candidate to take home MVP honors. He’s the smartest, most skilled player around and the puck almost always stays in the offensive zone when he’s out there. As Canada tried to do whatever it took to get on the board, McDavid took his game to another level.
Czechia
#1 Lukas Dostal, G (Anaheim Ducks): Starting consecutive games is tough for any goaltender, let alone back-to-back must-wins. Dostal was always going to be the X-factor heading into this game because Dostal has proven – especially at the 2024 World Championship – that he can rise to the occasion in must-win moments. Dostal is calm, cool and collected in the crease and does a good job of deflecting pucks out of danger. Given the situation, Dostal played as well as you could have expected today.
#3 Radko Gudas, D (Anaheim Ducks): That was Gudas’ best game of the tournament. He had an assist on the first Czech goal and the nlanded a couple of big hits along the way. Filip Hronek played significantly more than Gudas, but the bearded wonder was used in a role where, every time he hit the ice, it was his mission to shut guys down. The assist was just a nice little extra there.
#10 Roman Cervenka, LW: Cervenka was great on the top line, registering two assists in the opening period. It took forever for him and Sedlak to pair up with Pastrnak. But they quickly became one of the most dangerous lines, like we’ve seen at multiple World Championships. That’s because Cervenka is so smart as both a shooter and a passer. He knows when to give up on a chance and when to take control. Today, we saw him in control.
#23 Lukas Sedlak, C: Sedlak scored the 1-1 goal after getting in tight to jam in a pass from Cervenka. That’s what Sedlak does well – annoying defenders with his raw strength near the crease. He blocked a pair of shots and was strong on the backcheck, and had a couple of decent looks in the third period, as well. Sedlak doesn’t lose many key offensive zone faceoffs, that’s for sure.
#64 David Kampf, C (Vancouver Canucks): He’ll probably wish he had that goal in the first period that just missed the right side, but Kampf was great in this one. He won most of his individual battles and made some great plays in open ice in the offensive zone. He’s not much of a play-driver, but he can get the job done in a two-way sense.
PRESENTED BY DAILY FACEOFF’S OLYMPIC COVERAGE
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