4 Nations Face-Off Live Blog: Canada vs. Sweden

MONTREAL – Welcome to the 4 Nations Face-Off, the first international best-on-best tournament with NHL players since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. After two days of practice, things got started with a 4-3 overtime win by Canada. NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price was high atop the arena to provide the sights, sounds, and highlights of this historic event.

11:08 p.m. ET

And that's it. Mitch Marner wins it in overtime for Canada in a wild, fun and thrilling opener to the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Sweden appeared to be on the verge of winning with 8:03 left in OT, but Jordan Binnington robbed Mika Zibanejad with a sprawling blocker save.

We will do it all again tomorrow with the U.S. and Finland going head to head.

Hope you can join us again.

10:59 p.m. ET

And we are going to overtime, which means each team gets at least one point, but neither team gets three points.

The winner of this game will get two points and the loser one.

Amazing job by Sweden just to battle back and get this game to OT.

Now we play 10 minutes of 3-on-3 and then a shootout if noone scores.

Buckle up.

Now they are playing Narco by Timmy Trumpets. Where is Edwin Diaz?

10:50 p.m. ET

We have 4:35 left and this 4 Nations Face-Off opener has lived up to the hype and more.

Canada and Sweden are tied 3-3 and this next few minutes are huge.

If one team can win in regulation, it would be a real tough blow for the loser because of the points system in this shortened tournament.

Buckle up

10:43 p.m. ET

We have our save of the 4 Nations candidate already. Filip Gustavsson just robbed a wide open Devon Toews on the doorstep to keep this game tied, getting his blocker over just in time to deflect it away.

Remember that one if Sweden pulls this out.

And now Sweden is going to the power play with 7:31 left after Josh Morrissey took a high-sticking penalty.

They just played "Sweet Caroline" in here at the very second my son was texting me saying that Alex Bregman had signed with the Red Sox, a coincidence that wasn't lost on Red Sox fan Mike Zeisberger.

Or maybe they are trying to get Brad Marchand going.

10:37 p.m. ET

We have a hockey game now. Sweden has tied the game with 11:01 left on a gorgeous passing play that concluded with Joel Eriksson Ek scoring over an outstretched an flailing Jordan Binnington.

Jesper Bratt and Lucas Raymond had the assists and now we have a tie game, just like everyone thought would happen.

As we said a few times, Canada really had a chance to put this game away early, but didn't, and now down to five defensemen with Shea Theodore out, well, Sweden is carrying the play.

What was once a party atmosphere in here is now a very nervous energy.

Should be a great final 10 minutes.

10:29 p.m. ET

We have 13:01 left in the third period and it's getting tight in here. Sweden refuses to go away, hanging tough with Canada after it appeared it might get dogwalked in the opener here.

But they are still in it.

Connor McDavid nearly turned in a highlight reel goal, going into the Sweden zone with a full head of steam, but he couldn't wrap the puck in the goal.

10:22 p.m. ET

Shea Theodore is not back so it certainly appears as if Canada will play the rest of this game with five defensemen. Of course, it's a little easier to handle when the defensemen are Cale Makar, Drew Doughty, Devon Toews, Josh Morrissey and Colton Parayko.

But things just got a little bit tighter, with Adrian Kempe beating Binnington with a wrist shot that appeared to possibly get a piece of Drew Doughty's stick first.

So now it's 3-2 and we have plenty of hockey to go.

10:14 p.m. ET

Here are some numbers through 2 periods.

Sidney Crosby has two assists for Canada.

Sam Reinhart, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand and Colton Parayko have two shots each for Canada, which has 14 shots total.

Lucas Raymond leads Sweden with three of its 12 shots. Filip Forsberg is the only other Swedish player for more than one - he has two.

Not suprisingly, Victor Hedman leads Sweden with 15:41 of ice time, while Devon Toews leads Canada with 16:22.

We have about 4 minutes before the third period starts and Sweden needs some goals.

Well, we almost made it through the night without a Shania Twain song, but no dice. "Man, I Feel Like A Woman," just played. And we've gone from bad to worse with "Cotton Eye Joe" now playing.

My ears were cold this morning walking to the rink. Now they are bleeding from this awful music.

10:01 p.m. ET

We are through two periods here in Montreal and it's 3-1 Canada on the strength of a Mark Stone goal that was set up by who else, Sidney Crosby.

The teams are back in the rooms for now and Sweden needs to figure out how to get more shots on goal and more past Jordan Binnington.

Remember, this is a short tournament, and not getting any points in a game could be fatal.

We'll be back for the start of the third in a few.

9:55 p.m. ET

There is a reason Sidney Crosby is 25-0 for Canada, and we just saw it with 2:32 left in the second period.

With Sweden carrying the play and trailing by one, Crosby just turned the game around, beating Gustav Forsling to a puck in the corner and then feeding it to Mark Stone, who scores on a one-timer, and just like that it's 3-1 Canada at 17:28 of the second period.

The guy is simply amazing. It's almost as if he sense his team and country needed a big lift and he provided it.

Now the bad news for Canada -- still no sign of Shea Theordore on the Canada bench. Not great.

9:42 p.m. ET

Sweden is on the board. NHL.com blogger Jonas Brodin beats Jordan Binnington from a sharp angle at 9:33 of the second period and just like that it's a 2-1 game and the crowd has gotten a bit more tense.

Up until the goal, Sweden was having issues generating any offense, but now they are on the board and look like they are starting to get their legs.

Coincidentally - or not - the Sweden goal came right after the DJ played more ABBA. This time it was a "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" remix by someone named Sgt. Slick. Sounds like a wrestler.

Canada defenseman Shea Theodore is still not back on the bench after appearing to hurt his wrist on a hit from Adrian Kempe along the boards.

9:27 p.m. ET

We have our first potential injury of the game with Canada defenseman Shea Theodore going to the room with an apparent wrist injury.

He was hit along the boards by Adrian Kempe, went to the bench and left with the trainer.

Stay tuned. But for now, Canada is down to five defensemen.

As for Jordan Binnington, he made his first tough save of the game, stopping Lucas Raymond on a semibreakaway.

It's still 2-0 Canada with 14:39 left in the second period.

9:23 p.m. ET

The second period has begun and it's 2-0 Canada on the 4 Nations scoreboard.

As for the Bell Centre hot dog scoreboard, Tom Gulitti is in the lead with 4, followed by Shawn Roarke with 3.

I had two - one with ketchup one with mustard. The ketchup one has Dave Stubbs shaking mad. Then I told him I saw some people putting ketchup and mustard together.

Worse yet, Tom G saw someone put mayo on a hot dog. Yes mayo.

Anyhoo, back to hockey. Yes, it's only a two-goal game, but this feels like a blowout. Sweden can't get any offense going. They are trying to dump the puck in, but can't get to it.

Something has to change for Sweden.

9:02 p.m. ET

The first 20 minutes of the 4 Nations Face-Off are in the books and it's been all Canada, which leads 2-0 over Sweden.

It's funny, a lot of the talk coming in was that Sweden had such a tough defense, but it's Canada that shut things down in the first period, allowing just three shots on goal - two harmless wrist shots, and one a deflection from center ice that found it's way to Jordan Binnington's pads.

Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand - 2/3s of the Nova Scotia boys - have the goals for Canada.

It's hot dog time here in Montreal. I will be back for the start of the second period.

8:55 p.m. ET

Breaking news: Sweden has a shot on goal. It came on a harmless wrist shot from Gustav Forsling with 4:45 left in the first period. Yes, you read that right, Sweden did not have a shot on goal for the first 15:15 of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

In my previous post, I said they had a shot, but it was taken away.

So we are at one in counting.

8:52 p.m. ET

Brad Marchand gets a standing ovation in Montreal - you read that right - after he scores on beautiful pass from Seth Jarvis to make it 2-0 Canada with 6:45 left in the first period at a raucous Bell Centre.

Sweden finally has a shot on goal with about 6 minutes left in the period, but Binnington was hardly tested.

Right before the Marchand goal, the DJ brought out Swedish heavyweights, playing "The Look" by Roxette in an attempt to get the boys in yellow a shot on goal.

It backfired.

8:45 p.m. ET

If you were wondering if these guys are playing for keeps, wonder no more. Canada defenseman Josh Morrissey just laid a big hit on Sweden forward Joel Eriksson Ek, which got the crowd fired up.

The shot Sweden had on goal a few minutes ago has been taken away, so with 8:32 left in the first period, Sweden doesn't have a shot on goal. Jordan Binnington has not had to do anything yet.

In case you were all wondering and I'm sure you were, the first song played in the arena during a break between a game between Canada and Sweden was "Blitzkreig Bop" by the Ramones.

Maybe I am the Bell Centre DJ.

ABBA. Ramones. If we hear Ghost, Amon Amarth or Volbeat next, well, then it might be my twin spinning the tunes.

You can be sure Tracey Myers is not in charge of the music, becasuse they just played "Chelsea Dagger," which I'm sure she hears in her sleep since she attends every Blackhawks home game.

8:35 p.m. ET

Note to Sweden: Don't take penalties.

In case you blinked, you didn't see the whole Canada power play unit out there. It's Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar and Sam Reinhart. Talk about murderer's row.

Connor McDavid is putting on an absolute show and we are not even five minutes in.

He is absolutely showing off.

As for Canada goalie Jordan Binnington, he's faced one shot in the first eight minutes, so there's that.

That being said, Sweden has settled down a little bit after giving up the early goal.

And in case you were wondering, it doesn't seem to matter that Brad Marchand is playing for Canada - he actually heard some boos when he first touched the puck.

Gotta love it.

8:30 p.m.

Welp, it didn't take long for fans to see the Canada power play in action, and it didn't take long for it to score.

After William Nylnader got whistled for high-sticking 44 seconds into the game, Canada needed only 12 seconds to score, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring on a one-timer off a gorgeous backhand feed from Connor McDavid. My goodness gracious. It's MacKinnon from McDavid and Crosby at :56 seconds and this place in going bonkers.

8:24 p.m. ET

As Tracey Myers - who is sitting next to me - would say - Puck dropeth.

The 4 Nations Face-Off has officially begun.

It began after a stirring pregame show that featured Teemu Selanne, Mike Richter and perhaps the biggest moment, when Canadian hockey legend Mario Lemieux walked out onto the ice.

After loud cheers, the fans chanted "Mario, Mario, Mario."

As if the Canada fans didn't need any more fuel to get them pumped up for this game.

But not everyone got cheers.

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was booed mercilessly.

This was after the fans booed the Swedes during player introductions, the loudest one for Maple Leafs forward William Nylander, who let out a little smile.

By the way, as Tracey Myers just said, "How do you boo a Swede? It's like booing Santa."

If Santa wasn't wearing a Canada jersey, he would get booed.

From a hockey standpoint, Sweden needs to survive the first few minutes here. The crowd is cleary pro-Canada, so not giving this crowd any more momentum would help.

8:05 p.m. ET

Here are your starting lineups for Sweden-Canada.

For Canada:

Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Mark Stone at forward
Devon Toews and Cale Makar on defense
Jordan Binnington in net

For Sweden:

William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad and Rickard Rakell at forward
Victor Hedman and NHL.com blogger Jonas Brodin on defense
Filip Gustavsson in net.

We are about 15 minutes from puck drop and the pregame festivities are about to begin. Buckle up.

8 p.m. ET

During the morning skate today we notice every seat had some sort of lanyard with a light attached. I hope they showed it on TV, because it was really cool - red lights all over the arena.

Speaking of this arena, history just drips from the walls here. The 24 Cup banners, the oodles of retired numbers, and there are countless names of Canadiens greats everywhere you look.

Sidney Crosby and many of the Canada players talked about it over the past few days, not just about how excited they are to play for their country in a best-on-best tournament, but how much it means to them to play it here.

Speaking of Crosby, how is this for a crazy stat? The Penguins captain and captain of Canada is 25-0 in international play. 25-0. Amazing. Will he make it 26 tonight? We will soon find out.

7:48 p.m. ET

We are getting closer to puck drop and this place is buzzing.

The first time they showed Connor McDavid on the jumbotron during warmups a huge cheer went out.

For housekeeping purposes, it appears forward Sam Bennett, defenseman Travis Sanheim and goalie Sam Montembeault are the scratches for Canada and forward Leo Carlsson, defenseman Rasmus Andersson and goalie Samuel Ersson are the scratches for Sweden.

By the way, not only are we anticipating this game tonight we are prepping for a monster snowstorm tonight in Montreal. They are talking about 1-2 feet of snow.

Team NHL.com has walked to the Bell Centre from our hotel each day, but we have already scouted out taking the Metro, which is a fancy word for subway.

7:30 p.m. ET

Warmups have begun; Canada and Sweden are on the ice and the anticipation is building.

Jordan Binnington led Canada onto the ice while Filip Gustavsson did the same for Sweden. The cheers for Canada were quite loud as you would expect.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Canada is actually the road team for this game, meaning Sweden will get the last change, which could be big in a game that is expected to be tight.

I'm not sure if this is a good omen for Canada, but playing in the media dinning room a few minutes ago was "Money, Money, Money" from Sweden's own ABBA.

And right before the teams took the ice, "Dancing Queen" from ABBA played.

I promise, I'm not the Bell Centre DJ.

Speaking of the media dinning room, throughout these three game days and nights in Montreal, we are going to keep count of how many hot dogs or "chien chauds" NHL.com senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke will eat. We're at 1 and counting. On the bus ride to the rink today he asked out loud if a person could die from hot dog poisoning. I think we're about to find out.

7 p.m. ET

We are about an hour away from the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off and I think it’s safe to say it’s like Christmas Eve in this town – heck this entire country -- with the excitement and anticipation at an all-time high.

The players are ready, the fans are ready. This is going to be epic.

Don’t believe me, just ask the players. NHL.com columnist Nick Cotsonika wrote today about just intense and meaningful this tournament will be.

And if you love international best-on-best hockey, you got more good news Wednesday with the NHL and NHLPA officially announcing the World Cup of Hockey 2028. Here is our story.

As for the game Wednesday, the biggest news so far for the home country was the announcement of Jordan Binnington as the starting goalie for Canada on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how much leash he gets. If there is one question mark about Canada in this tournament, it’s the goaltending. Let’s see if Binnington repays the faith of the management team.

As for Sweden, they are without Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils, leaving their goaltending a bit in limbo. This morning we found out that Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild will start for Sweden.

The fans are starting to get out of the cold and file into the building and the countdown has begun. I’ll be back in a little bit.