MONTREAL (AP) — Sidney Crosby got a sellout crowd roaring with a no-look pass to Nathan MacKinnon for a slam dunk power-play goal in the first minute. Then he sent Canada fans home happy by assisting on Mitch Marner’s overtime winner.
Sid’s not a kid anymore, but he showed he’s still got it at 37, getting three assists to beat Sweden 4-3 on Wednesday night in a thrilling opener of the 4 Nations Face-Off. It was just the latest masterclass by Crosby, a two-time Olympic champion who brought his best to the return of elite international competition featuring the NHL’s top players.
“It’s no coincidence is record of when he’s wearing a Canadian jersey,” coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s not a fluke. He will go down as the greatest player to ever represent his country. If not, he’s going to be on the Mount Rushmore, for sure, of people that have thrown the Canadian jersey on.”
Fans who chanted the name of Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux during a pregame ceremony shifted to “Crosby! Crosby!” throughout the night and after he set up Marner’s goal 6:06 into 3-on-3 OT.
“As someone who loves to play in environments like that, I grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan and to have an ovation like that here was really special and something I’ll always remember,” Crosby said.
Crosby along with Connor McDavid were among the top skaters on the ice throughout. McDavid picked up the secondary assist on MacKinnon’s goal and was buzzing all over around Swedish defenders.
Brad Marchand also scored for Canada to incite cheers at the home arena of the Canadiens, where the Boston Bruins captain is far more used to being the villain. Of course there were a few boos when his name was announced, too, to keep with tradition.
And Marner, also usually not loved in Montreal because he plays for the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, got to bask in cheers — and the fact that his childhood idol set up the biggest goal of his career.
“You tell 13-year-old Mitch that he scored an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, the guy he looked up to since Day 1, it’s pretty crazy,” Marner said. “I really just tried to enjoy the moment after. The building was rocking, and it was nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me.”
Canada at times controlled the play, but goaltender Jordan Binnington struggled at times. Binnington, who had 23 saves, was beaten clean in the second by Jonas Brodin and in the third by Adrian Kempe. He was less at fault on the tying goal to Joel Eriksson Ek with 11 minutes left in regulation and made a spectacular sliding save to deny Mika Zibanejad early in overtime.
Sweden got some big saves in net from Filip Gustavsson, who stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced and denied MacKinnon four times in OT in a hard-luck loss for the Swedes.
“In overtime there, he had some really good saves, even the whole game,” Brodin said. “He’s an unbelievable goalie and happy for him. He was great for us.”
Winning the first of three round-robin games did come at a cost for Canada, which lost defenseman Shea Theodore to a right wrist injury in the second period. Cooper said Theodore is out for the rest of the tournament, and Travis Sanheim figures to slot in after being a healthy scratch against Sweden.
That Canada was able to play the remainder of a game that lasted over 65 minutes down to five D-men was a testament to the others at the position.
“In a game like that at that pace, having five defensemen up and down the ice, I can’t say enough about what those guys did right till the end,” Binnington said. “It’s really tough to see Shea go down like that, but it happened and sometimes things happen like that and it’s how you handle it.”
The United States faces Finland in each team’s first 4 Nations game on Thursday night.
