After surviving scare of a lifetime vs. Czechia, what must Canada fix in semifinal?
How shallow were Canada’s waters during the group stage of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament in Milan?
There was the 20-3 goal differential. The nine points in nine periods for superstar Connor McDavid. The tournament-leading goal total from 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini. It all had Czechia star David Pastrnak surmising this Canadian team might be the best ever assembled during the lead-up to their quarterfinal showdown.
Gamesmanship from Pastrnak? Whatever it was, it highlighted just how little of a sweat Canada broke across its first three games. And maybe that masked a few flaws in the supposedly perfect hockey machine, because Czechia exposed them and them some on Thursday in an all-time Olympic thriller.
It seemed like Canada was picking up where it left off when Macklin Celebrini buried his tournament-leading fifth goal at 3:05 of the first, but Czechia answered on a net-crashing Lukas Sedlak tally, and 40 million sphincters tightened across the Atlantic Ocean when Pastrnak ripped an absolute rocket of a one-timer past Jordan Binnington on the power play six minutes later. Suddenly, the Canadian men trailed in a best-on-best affair for the first time since the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, a gap spanning more than 800 minutes of hockey. It was Canada’s welcome to the deep waters – right before Radko Gudas chained an anchor to them and plunged them even deeper, knocking captain Sidney Crosby out of the game with a heavy hit attempt that Crosby ducked, creating awkward lower-body contact.
Canada responded with a Nathan MacKinnon power-play goal midway through the second period, but Czechia seemingly stuck Canada with the dagger midway through the third after defenseman Thomas Harley’s shot got blocked and created a 3-on-2, finished by trailer Ondrej Palat. It turned out the wounded version of Canada was the most dangerous animal, however. A dogged solo forecheck by Nick Suzuki maintained offensive zone time long enough for blueliner Devon Toews to uncork a point shot that Suzuki expertly tipped past goaltender Lukas Dostal, tying the game 3-3 with 3:27 to go. Mitch Marner – the king of clutch for Toronto Maple Leafs fans! – completed the heart-stopping comeback with a daring, defense-splitting net drive punctuated by a glove-side backhander to finish the game for Canada in 3-on-3 overtime.
Canada survived by the skin of its beaver tail and produced a downright unforgettable quarterfinal game Thursday. But the 4-3 result also exposed just how much went wrong. And with Crosby’s status very much in doubt going forward, it will be all the more important for Canada to excise its warts in time for the semifinal.
What has to change?
Spoiler alert: it’s not goaltender Jordan Binnington. He had no chance on the second and third Czechia goals, and the only reason Canadian government officials aren’t building Power Point decks for a summit right now is because of the point-blank breakaway stops he made with the game tied, once on Martin Necas in regulation and once on Radim Simek in overtime. Binnington hasn’t been Herculean a-la 2014 Carey Price, but Binnington was not the reason Canada dug itself a hole in the quarterfinal, and he was very much the reason Canada clawed out of it.
1. The superstars can’t do it all on their own, though the win was a helluva step in the right direction. Canada has 23 goals in this tournament, 10 contributed just from McDavid, MacKinnon and Celebrini, with McDavid also assisting on nine of them. As Canada fell behind Thursday, the team visibly seemed to sit back as if deferring to the big guns to do all the heavy lifting. Those three played 21:48, 22:36 and 22:43, respectively, with fellow superstar Cale Makar logging 26:41 for the D-corps, and combined for 19 of Canada’s 41 shots, or 46.3 percent. On one hand, you want your studs to carry you, but there’s a line between letting your stars cook and putting too much on their shoulders. Canada still has two more games to win, and its forward group is loaded with future Hall of Famers, All-Stars and elite two-way players beyond the big three plus the injured Crosby.
Suzuki, an 89-point player last season on pace for 94 this season, is an elite hockey player. His excellent work on the tying goal wasn’t some heartwarming moment for a grinder. Same goes for two-time first team All-Star Marner, the NHL’s eighth-leading scorer since he entered the league in 2016-17. The moment Marner delivered should be more expectation than norm. Coach Jon Cooper has every reason to demand additional lifts from his depth going forward. Reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett didn’t even dress for the game but may for Canada’s next one as a Crosby replacement assuming Bennett himself is physically right, while Sam Reinhart, languishing on the fourth line, is a season removed from scoring 57 goals. Go ahead and lean on these players. They’re more than good enough.
If the lower-lineup forwards don’t continue stepping up a-la Suzuki and Marner, the collective debate over which offense-first forwards should’ve made the team, from Connor Bedard to Mark Scheifele, will ignite.
2. Nathan MacKinnon still hasn’t found the right linemates at 5-on-5. Brandon Hagel’s two-way smarts and forechecking skill haven’t yielded much productivity, nor did Marchand on that line when elevated there during the quarterfinal game, while Suzuki was miscast as a winger there and seemed to blossom once replacing Crosby as the third-line center Thursday. Cooper hasn’t found the ideal mix to hang with MacKinnon, who has done his damage on the power play and during spurts on a Super Line with Celebrini and McDavid. Last season, MacKinnon won the 4 Nations Face-Off MVP award; he played with Crosby and Reinhart in that tournament. Crosby may no longer be an option, but Reinhart is. Cooper has nothing to lose putting them back together. It’s just a matter of finding the right left winger; could the wily Mark Stone move up to that spot? He played left wing to end the 4 Nations last year.
3. Hide Colton Parayko any way you can.
Parayko was easily Canada’s weakest link at the 4 Nations last year, he was a questionable choice for the 2026 Olympic team, and his Milan highlight reel has mostly consisted of him popping up on replays of opposing chances or firing low-percentage shots into shin pads. He doesn’t process the game quick enough to complement Canada’s all-world forwards. If Josh Morrissey isn’t ready to play in the semis, Parayko must dress, but Cooper might want to use him sparingly.
If Canada can clean up those elements of its game, we may get a sharper edition of the powerhouse team in the next round of the bracket – and maybe less of a white-knuckle ride. Whether Crosby plays or not, there’s no excuse to lose. Canada remains stacked, at least up front, with or without its legendary leader.
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PRESENTED BY DAILY FACEOFF’S OLYMPIC COVERAGE
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