MONTREAL (AP) Nathan MacKinnon scored on the power play 56 seconds in off a no-look pass from Sidney Crosby, Mitch Marner got the overtime winner after Sweden rallied to tie it and Canada opened the 4 Nations” data-type=”SPORTS_OBJECT_TEAM” data-league-abbreviation=”NHL” data-team-abbreviation=”SWE”>Nations Face-Off with a thrilling 4-3 victory on Wednesday night.
Marner scored at 6:06 of the 3-on-3 OT to help Canada escape without a loss that could prove decisive in such a short tournament. Instead, a sellout crowd of 21,105 got to celebrate the return of elite international competition with the NHL’s best players.
Few if any were better than Crosby, who also set up Mark Stone’s goal in the second period and then Marner’s score, and the 37-year-old captain 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.
Canada at times controlled the play, but goaltender Jordan Binnington struggled. 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 in a hard-luck loss for the Swedes.
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. Theodore got crunched into the glass by Kempe, immediately winced in pain and received medical attention on the bench before going down the tunnel for X-rays.
If Theodore is out, Travis Sanheim figures to enter the lineup after being a healthy scratch against Sweden. He’s the only other defenseman on the roster, since each team was allowed to bring seven to the tournament.
Theodore’s status and Canada’s situation in goal are the big questions facing coach Jon Cooper and his staff in the coming days. Adin Hill backed up Binnington and is a candidate to take over the starting job.
The United States faces Finland in each team’s first 4 Nations game on Thursday night.
Sweden faces Finland on Saturday, and Canada takes on the U.S.
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