MONTREAL – Excellence and some tough luck were the Vegas Golden Knights themes on opening night at the 4Nations Face-Off.
VGK captain Mark Stone scored a goal for Canada in its 4-3 OT win over Sweden and looked tremendous on a line with Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.
On the flip side, Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore was lost to Canada early in the first period due to an upper-body injury and following the game head coach Jon Cooper announced he was done for the tournament. Thursday morning the Golden Knights announced he would be out week-to-week.
Team Canada needed to hold its breath a few times Wednesday night but in the end was able to secure a win and put a crucial two points in the bank.
Mitch Marner fired a dart past Sweden goalie Filip Gustavsson for the game-winner and a heavily biased Canadian crowd exploded.
Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby was the most impactful player in the game with three assists and was named most outstanding player for the night.
Here’s what we saw and heard:
Rolling Stone: Mark Stone is one of the best outlet passers in the game. He can pull the puck off the wall and find a teammate moving through the neutral zone like few others. He’s smart in his own zone and continually is near the top of the league in takeaways with his elite defensive stickwork.
Canada’s third goal featured Stone at his best. He stole the puck from Sweden’s William Nylander in the defensive zone and hit Sidney Crosby in full flight with a quick pass. Crosby galloped down the right wing while Stone trailed the play in the middle of the ice. Crosby drove to the bottom of the circle, stopped and hard spun to face the charging Stone. A perfect pass from Crosby and an equally accurate shot from Stone beat Swede goalie Gustavsson to give Canada a 3-1 lead.
“It's interesting because Sid's playing the wing. So, he did a really good job. A couple of times he kind of blew on the zone when we had possession. And when he gets a step on you and he can get some kind of body position, you're not taking the puck from him,” said Stone. “So, he draws one, two, three guys to him, and if you can kind of find those soft areas, he's going to find you. I just try to get the puck off my stick as quick as I could and it kind of surprised the goalie, I think. When he turned up, I knew he was going to draw one, two, three guys to him. You can kind of come in into those little holes. He's going to find you, he's been doing it for his whole career. He’s two-dimensional with his passing and his shooting. He can shoot it in the net. He can pass it to his teammates.”
No softies: Canada led 2-0 and 3-1 and appeared on their way to a regulation win and the full three points before Sweden pushed back and forced overtime. Someone texted me when Canada led 2-0 and said: “Canada is going to win this tournament.”
An hour or so later when Sweden got it to 3-3, same person different text: “Sweden is going to win this tournament.”
Bottom line – all four teams are excellent and while Canada and the United States appear to be more talented – anything can happen here.
No mas: The concept of extending 3-on-3 regular season NHL overtime from five minutes to 10 may seem like a smart idea to those who hate the shootout. It is a good fit for a short tournament like this. But for the NHL regular season?
No thanks, says Team Canada and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon said he was exhausted when Mitch Marner finally scored the winner for Canada in the seventh minute of overtime. Teams lean on their best players in 3-on-3. More time on the clock would mean extra wear and tear in the regular season. Of the 179 games that required extra time this season, 133 ended in overtime. NHL OT isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing.
“It’s alright. I mean I had a great seat for it,” said Stone. “That was pretty exciting, wasn't it? Especially with the best players in the world going out there, watching Connor (McDavid) and Nate go out there together, watch them flying up and down the sheet there, it's awesome. I loved it. You know, 10 minutes of 3-on-3 can be tiring for some guys, but I think if you were to ask Nate and even guys on their team, they love playing 3-on-3. They love having the puck on their stick with time. I think it's a great format for a tournament like this because I don't think with 5-on-5 we want to be playing an extra two, three periods.
“Every time Nate or Cale or Connor got the puck, the fans were out of their seats. And that's what it's all about. But I’d like to see the stats on what going to 10 minutes would mean. It would be a lot more work for top players.”
Le Magnifique: Each country brought out a legend with its current team captain as part of the pre-game ceremonies. USA captain Auston Matthews was joined by 1996 World Cup champion goalie Mike Richter. Swede captain Victor Hedman escorted Olympic champion center Daniel Alfredsson. Finnish legend and four-time Olympic medalist Teemu Selanne was brought out by Finn captain Aleksander Barkov. The greatest roar, however, was reserved for Montreal native Mario Lemieux. No. 66, Magnificent Mario or Le Magnifique won gold at the Olympics, World Cup and Canada Cup as well as capturing two Stanley Cups. Lemieux had to wave over a bashful Canada captain Sidney Crosby as Montreal faithful chanted Mario, Mario, Mario over and over before switching to Crosby, Crosby, Crosby.
A great moment in true Montreal panache.
Sid leaves his mark: Sidney Crosby was questionable for the tournament after suffering an upper body injury with the Pittsburgh Penguins just prior to the break.
The Montreal crowd loved him, cheering “Crosby, Crosby, Crosby,” on a number of occasions. Stone was playing on the same team as Crosby for the first time.
“I think Sid is the example for the NHL and Hockey Canada of just being a pro: the leadership he has on and off the ice, the presence that he has and the respect that he gets from his teammates, his opponents, and ultimately the fan base,” said Stone. “He's got that squeaky clean reputation of just being a quiet and incredible superstar that we've been fortunate to have in our league for almost 20 years. Pretty cool to see him and Mario Lemieux had a little pass the torch moment before the game. Those are the kind of things that when I retire, I'll remember that stuff.”
Buyer beware: Opposition players had better get their money’s worth when taking a penalty against Canada because it will likely be costly.
When head coach Jon Cooper unveiled his top power play unit the hockey world gasped. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon. Sidney Crosby, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar make up what might be the most loaded PP group in hockey history.
Swede forward William Nylander took a high sticking penalty just 44 seconds into the game and immediately regretted it.
Cooper sent his man-advantage assassins over the boards and McKinnon finished off a clean and creative passing sequence which included a Crosby backhand just 12 seconds into the power play.
“It took a little while to get it going there. I think it took, what, 12 seconds,” cracked Stone. “Win the draw and get it going. You never know how things are going to work, but when you put those kinds of players together, and they start moving the puck, it’s a pretty big thing of beauty. So many guys out there that can make the plays, but at the end of the day you need somebody to put the puck in the net. They made a great play to Nate (MacKinnon), and he fired it home.”
