Mitch Marner took a drop pass from Sidney Crosby and stormed into the Swedish zone before beating Filip Gustavsson’s blocker with a wrist shot 6:06 into overtime to give Canada a 4-3 win in the first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal.
The 37-year-old Crosby finished with three primary assists and was named the game’s First Star.
After trading passes with Connor McDavid, Crosby’s sensational backhand pass was slammed into the net by Nathan MacKinnon 56 seconds into the game with William Nylander serving a high-sticking minor to give the Canadians a 1-0 lead.
Canada doubled its advantage off the rush at 13:15 when Seth Jarvis slipped a pass to Brayden Point and he set up Brad Marchand, who deposited the puck into the empty net with Gustavsson out of position.
The Swedes pulled one back midway through the second period, thanks to Jonas Brodin’s knuckling wrist shot from the edge of the right circle, which rose over a handcuffed Jordan Binnington. The assists on the goal went to Victor Hedman and Lucas Raymond.
Mark Stone would send Crosby into the offensive zone and then receive a return pass that he one-timed home from the slot to restore Canada’s two-goal lead with 3:32 left in the frame.
Sweden rallied to tie the tilt with two goals in a 7:05 span of the third period.
Adrian Kempe lit the lamp at the 1:54 mark, converting from between the circles after taking a nifty entry pass from Erik Karlsson. Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm drew the second helper on the play.
Joel Eriksson Ek evened it up at 8:59, settling and lifting the puck into the net from the right side after taking Jesper Bratt’s cross-slot feed after Raymond passed back against the grain to Bratt to open things up down low.
Binnington, who finished with 23 stops, made two high-quality saves in overtime to set the stage for Marner’s heroics.
Florida Panthers Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling took part in the game. Sam Bennett was a healthy scratch.
Reinhart registered three shots on goal and was credited with a hit and a block. He made a really good defensive play in the first period to take away a scoring chance. He was on the ice for MacKinnon’s power-play goal and Brodin’s even-strength goal, resulting in a minus-one.
Forsling logged 24:58 of ice time and posted a shot a goal, a hit and a block. He also finished the game with a minus-one rating.
What a great start to the tournament! Matthew Tkachuk and the United States will take on a Finland team that features Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola, tonight at 8 p.m.