Marner OT goal caps Canada comeback against Czechia in Olympic quarterfinals

MILAN -- Mitch Marner spoiled the "Miracle in Milan" with his latest act of clutch goal-scoring for Team Canada.

The forward scored 1:22 into overtime, giving top-seeded Canada a 4-3 win against upset-minded Team Czechia in a quarterfinal game of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at Santaguilia Arena on Wednesday.

With the sides playing 3-on-3 in overtime, Marner had open ice and a head of speed as he crossed the attacking blue line. When the Czech defenders shaded to Nathan MacKinnon, who joined the rush, Marner accelerated through the gap and fired a shot to the far side of goalie Lukas Dostal, setting off pandemonium among the Canada players and heartbreak for the Czechs.

"Pretty special," Marner said. "Cool to just contribute and make a play when you need it. There were so many big plays in that game that made it what it is."

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Czechia-Canada

None bigger than the one by Marner, who also scored an overtime goal for Canada against Sweden in a round-robin game at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year.

"It's a pretty special one," Marner said.

The forward for the Vegas Golden Knights is the third Canadian, and sixth player overall, to score an overtime goal in an Olympic game involving NHL players. His was the fastest.

It put an end to a game that was a roller coaster for each team from start to finish.

"That's why I don't have a desk job," Canada forward Tom Wilson said. "Those are the moments and that is why you play the game. Guys stepped up huge at the end. Those are the moments why you play the game."

Next, Canada, which has won gold in each of the past two Olympics with NHL players, will face Finland in the semifinals here Friday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA [JIP], ICI Tele, CBC Gem, CBC [JIP], SN [JIP], RDS2). It's the fifth time in six tournaments with NHL players that Canada has made the semis.

Macklin Celebrini had a goal and two assists, MacKinnon scored, and Connor McDavid had two assists for Canada. Jordan Binnington made 20 saves.

Nick Suzuki tied the game for Canada with 3:27 remaining, batting a point shot from Devon Toews past Dostal, foiling Czechia's attempt to hold onto its third-period lead and pull of one of the all-time upsets in Olympic hockey.

"I mean, we were four minutes away from beating an unbelievable team and go further," Czechia forward Ondrej Palat said. "We didn't."

Palat, David Pastrnak and Lukas Sedlak scored for the eighth-seeded Czechs, and Dostal made 37 saves.

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

Palat gave Czechia a 3-2 lead with 7:42 remaining in the third with a one-timer off a pass from Martin Necas and dreams of the upset were in full bloom.

"They scored, and then we couldn't hold onto the lead. Too bad," Palat said. "But I'm proud of the team, how we battled against a really good team."

Team Canada has won 14 straight Olympic games involving NHL players, including eight straight games in the playoff round dating to 2010 in Vancouver. They had not trailed in this tournament until the first period of this game and have a 24-6 advantage in goals.

With the game tied 3-3 and 1:13 remaining in the third, Necas had a breakaway but was stopped by Binnington, who denied the attempt to go five-hole.

"When the game got tight, and especially when they took the lead, he shut the door," Canada coach Jon Cooper said of Binnington. "He gave us a chance to come back. That's what winners do. They give you that chance."

Canada played the final 35 minutes of the game without captain Sidney Crosby, after he sustained a lower-body injury on a hit from Czechia defenseman Radko Gudas at 4:55 of the second period.

Things were going Czechia's way at that point, but they couldn't close it. They threw their best punches at Canada, which wobbled but never went down.

"We made them defend," Gudas said. "I don't think they had that this tournament here yet, so I'm really, really proud of the way everybody got ready for this game and the way they played fearless and the way they performed and just battled for each other."

MacKinnon erased Czechia's first lead, making it 2-2 on the power play at 12:16 of the second period.

Pastrnak scored a power-play goal at 14:49 of the first to make it 2-1, marking not only the first time Canada had trailed in four games at this tournament, but the first time they had trailed in an Olympics involving NHL players since the preliminary round of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Celebrini gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 3:05 of the first when he took a drop pass from McDavid and hammered it home for a tournament-leading fifth goal.

Czechia tied the game 1-1 at 8:34 when Sedlak drove hard to the front of the net and a pass from Roman Cervenka deflected off his skate and past Binnington.

"It tells something about this group that we were just relentless, and I thought we could have pulled it off," Gudas said.

NOTES: Celebrini is the fourth player to score a goal in four straight Olympic games involving NHL players (Marian Hossa, Slovakia, and Teemu Selanne, Finland, in 2006; Mats Sundin, Sweden, in 2002). He also became the first teenager to have multiple three-point games in an Olympic tournament featuring NHL players and first to do so in the knockout round. … McDavid had two assists and extended his multipoint streak to four games (two goals, nine assists) and matched the longest by any player in an Olympics with NHL participation, tying Selanne (in 2006).