Czechia lost 5-0 to Canada in their first game of the Olympics. Although Martin Necas joked that Czechia let Canada win that game, they know they'll need to play close to perfect to avoid it happening again.
MILAN, Italy - Czechia's Martin Necas wasn't about to guarantee a win against Canada when the two teams play again in the quarterfinal at the Olympics on Wednesday.
But when asked why this rematch would be any different than Canada's 5-0 win against Czechia at the beginning of the tournament, the Czech-born right winger had an interesting theory.
"We let them win the first one, because we knew that we're not going to win two in a row against Canada," said Necas, eliciting laughs from reporters following Czechia's 3-2 win against Denmark in the Olympic qualifiers on Tuesday.
In other words, anything can happen in a single-elimination game.
The first time Czechia played Canada at these Olympics, it wasn't so much a battle as it was a blowout.
Canada won 5-0 and dominated in every aspect of the game.
Since then, Canada have been perfect at the Olympics, outscoring opponents 20-3 in three games. Czechia have had a more difficult route to the quarterfinal, having defeated France 6-3, before losing 3-2 in overtime to Switzerland and then beating Denmark in Tuesday's qualifier.
"I think we just have to play smart," said Necas, who leads all Czech players with three goals and seven points in four games. "We can't take these penalties that we took today. We're going to give it our best. This is maybe the biggest game of our lives, and we're excited."
Indeed, if Czechia are going to upset Canada, then they will need to be pretty close to perfect.
They will need Necas and right winger David Pastrnak, who has a goal and four points in four games, to continue to lead the offense. But more importantly, they will need to find a way to slow down Canada's high-powered offense led by Connor McDavid (one goal and nine points), Macklin Celebrini (four goals and six points), Sidney Crosby (two goals and six points) and Nathan MacKinnon (two goals and five points).
"Put the respect aside and try to take their game to them," said Pastrnak. "We know offensively their power is incredible. We just have to be stronger on the puck in our zone and more confident. As a team, we haven't played our best yet."
The biggest thing Czechia will need is for goalie Lukas Dostal, who stopped 31 of 36 shots, to stand on his head and steal a win. It's a tough ask, considering that Dostal, who stopped 24 shots against Denmark on Tuesday, will be playing in back-to-back games.
"I have no problem with that," Dostal said of playing on consecutive nights. "We played in Europe before, it was always the back-to-back. Once this season, I think I got pulled against Dallas in the middle of the game and 'Q' told me in the tunnel be ready for tomorrow. We played back-to-back and we won that game."
Maybe that's a positive omen for Czechia, which will face a rested Canadian team that last played on Sunday. Either way, Czechia knows they are the underdogs. And if they are going to find a way to upset Canada, then they will have the game of their lives.
"We need to be better overall," said center David Kampf. "We need to bring a better game. Hopefully we can recover good and get a good sleep and be our best tomorrow. If we want to win, we have to be better. They have a great team.
"We have to be our best."
The quarterfinal matchup goes down at 10:40 a.m. ET.
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