Team Canada not only had scoring from all over the lineup and tons of skill, but their physicality was on display. Connor McDavid's hit may have topped them all.
MILAN, Italy - With a dominating 5-0 victory in their opening game against the Czechs, the Canadians served notice to the rest of the world: this is a scary team to face in the Olympics.
The Czechs weren't even that bad and goaltender Lukas Dostal played quite well, but Canada got offensive contributions from players on every line and snuffed out any chance of a Czech upset by the mid-point of the game.
Team Canada was skilled and physical, and one of the best hits all night came early from an unexpected source: Connor McDavid. His plastering of Lukas Sedlak even had teammates like Brad Marchand confused.
"When I got back to the bench, Marchy said, 'Great hit, Willy,' and I said 'No, that was Davo,' " said Tom Wilson. "But that's what it takes: everybody doing whatever they can, taking on any role. When it's your turn to hit a guy, you hit him. When it's your turn to block a shot, you block a shot."
McDavid did end the game with three assists, and getting offense from him was very much expected.
But the prettiest play of the game went to Mitch Marner, who swooped in on the Czech net in the second period and flipped a pass just over the pants of defenseman David Spacek, who had gone to ground in an attempt to break up the play. Instead, Marner found Vegas Golden Knights teammate Mark Stone for Canada's second marker of the night.
"We know each other, and he's really good at getting to the back side of the net," Marner said. "You just trust your skills and instincts. I try to work on passing all throughout the summer, little plays that are on and off the stick, getting it up in the air quickly and coming down. I knew that even if it was in the air, 'Stoney' was going to have a chance to put it in."
The positives overall for Canada were legion: five different players scored, including teenager Macklin Celebrini, whose deflection of a Cale Makar shot got his team on the board with 5.7 seconds left in the first period.
Team Canada was also physical without taking any penalties for being too rough, and Jordan Binnington was solid in net, even if there were a few dicey moments (one sharp-angled Tomas Hertl shot seemed to pass right through the netminder, but luckily for Binnington, not into the net).
"He was great," Marner said. "Massive. He made some massive saves throughout the game, obviously that one on (David) Kampf to keep it scoreless in the first period. We have such confidence when he's in that net, and he's so good at playing the puck, making easy plays. He's going to get that puck around on his backhand or forehand."
Most crucially, however, Canada seemed to have an answer defensively for anything the Czechs tried to generate.
Puck-carriers were caught from behind by back-checking forwards, while even what looked like a sure-fire breakaway for David Pastrnak was nullified by a speeding Devon Toews. And as dangerous as Pastrnak and his linemates Hertl and Martin Necas looked, they could not break through.
"Anytime you play high-end talent like that, you gotta be aware when they're on the ice because they're capable of making incredible plays," Makar said. "That top line, you had to be extra-aware."
In the end, the Czechs just had nothing against Canada. The Canadians had to feel each other out early on, but once they locked in, this game was pushed beyond any hope of a Czech comeback.
"I thought we got better as that game went on," said coach Jon Cooper. "I don't care if you're Sid, (Drew) Doughty or Celebrini, when you play your first Olympics, everybody gets the jitters. You could tell at the beginning in the game. But then the physicality; the Wilsons, (Sam) Bennetts and (Bo) Horvats started flexing a bit, and we got some confidence from that."
And a confident Canadian team is bad news for the rest of the field.
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