Three things - Crosby puts on a show in Montreal

MONTREAL, QC – Mitch Marner scored at 6:06 of overtime lifting Canada to a 4-3 win over Sweden to kick off the 4 Nations Face-Off at the Bell Centre. Sidney Crosby had three assists including the helper on the game winning goal, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand and Mark Stone had the other goals. Jordan Binnington made 23 saves for Canada who will face the United States on Saturday. Canada gets two points for the overtime win, Sweden gets one point in the loss. Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor and the Americans play their first game on Thursday against Finland.

ABSOLUTE LEGEND

Last weekend, Jets centre Mark Scheifele was put on alert in case Sidney Crosby couldn’t play or another injury to a Canadian forward. Crosby ended up making the trip to Montreal and announced on Tuesday he was good to go. It didn’t take him long to make an impact in the game with the vaunted Canadian power play taking all of 12 seconds to score with William Nylander in the penalty box.

In the second period, with Canada leading 2-1, Crosby went to work again. Off a Swedish turnover, Crosby skated into the Swedish zone, fought off Gustav Forsling and found Mark Stone in the slot and he fired a one-timer past Filip Gustavsson to restore Canada’s two goal lead.

In overtime, the Canadian captain dropped the puck back to Marner before he hit the Swedish blueline and Marner did the rest. Morrissey had said on Tuesday that Crosby was an absolute legend, and he lived up to that reputation.

"Special players do special things, and obviously there's a lot of special players on this team,” said Morrissey.

“Sid's proven time in and time out throughout his career, in big moments, those guys on the biggest stage rise to the occasion. So, just unreal by him.”

CANADA LOSES THEODORE

Playing in his first game for Canada since the 2017 World Championships, Josh Morrissey made his presence felt early in the first period when he laid out Swedish forward Joel Ericksson Ek with a huge hit that got the crowd buzzing.

In the second period, Shea Theodore was hit cleanly by Filip Forsberg and did not return to the game and Canada’s coach Jon Cooper announced after the game that Theodore is out for the tournament. Canada played with five defencemen for close to 43 minutes and that meant Morrissey ended up with 23:17 of ice time, two blocked shots, and one hit.

“Going down to five was not ideal. You feel for Theo as well. It's tough situation. But you know, all of us are used to playing a lot of minutes on our NHL teams,” said Morrissey.

“And so, I think for us it was just about business as usual, kind of throw the pairings out the window and just play. So, it was a good battle by the guys back there.”

HECK OF A START TO THE TOURNAMENT

Morrissey along with a lot of his Canadian teammates have been waiting for an opportunity to represent their respective countries and the opener of the 4 Nations Face-Off gave everybody a taste of what’s to come over the next nine days.

“100 per cent. I mean, intense game, I thought both teams played well. We had a great first period. And I think kind of just so much energy, adrenaline in that first I think we sagged a little bit and they were able to tie it up,” said Morrissey.

“But, yeah, we had a ton of fun. And I think to cap it off like that, what an experience, what a moment. You know, it's the stuff that gives you chills. So, keep that rolling and build some momentum for Saturday.”