Canada’s depth was the difference maker against Czechia

For most teams, seeing your captain exit a game with injury while being down 2-1 five minutes into the second period is a recipe for a loss. Fortunately for the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team, they are not most teams. After Sidney Crosby got injured following an awkward collision with defenseman Radko Gudas, a sense of urgency seemed to ignite within Canada, as they outshot Czechia 30 to 14 over the final two periods and overtime en route to a 4-3 OT quarterfinal win on Wednesday.

Without Crosby, Canada was able to call upon their depth, which is a luxury no team other than the United States has in this tournament. Nick Suzuki, who many were calling on to get scratched before the game, filled in for Crosby and played a critical role in Canada’s comeback, scoring the game-tying goal late in the third period at the end of a Herculean forechecking effort. In overtime, Mitch Marner took his turn to step into the spotlight, punctuating a brilliant solo dash with the game-winning goal.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed the importance of Canada’s depth stepping up when it was most needed.

Tyler Yaremchuk: What’s huge for Canada is the fact that it’s been the Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini show through the first three games of the tournament, but yesterday they came back because of their depth, and it showed that their depth is their superpower. A superstar player in Mitch Marner is your third shift on the ice in overtime. Nick Suzuki, a guy who started as kind of the 12th forward on your depth chart, elevated up with the Crosby injury and makes a huge impact. That’s Canada’s strength, is that up and down their lineup, it’s superstar players.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, it was unbelievable. I think getting him back to center helps, getting in that role that he’s used to playing. At times I was kind of cursing this line during this game, it felt like they had a lack of speed and urgency at times. I also think there’s a bit of a factor where you have (Nathan) MacKinnon, McDavid, and Celebrini just on another level, you almost become a passenger to the team. These guys are used to being the stars and now you’re taking a step back and you’re watching another line carry the mail. I think for them, the depth coming into play was so important.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Friday’s episode here…