People across the hockey world are pretty accustomed to seeing Pittsburgh Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby take things to a whole other level during international play.
And he got off to a great start on Thursday.
In their first preliminary round matchup of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina, Team Canada defeated Czechia, 5-0, on Thursday to earn their first win of the tournament. Crosby, the captain, notched two assists, while alternate captain Connor McDavid had three helpers en route to the win.
Canada opened the scoring with just five seconds remaining in the first period, when youngster Macklin Celebrini tipped a Cale Makar shot into the back of the net and behind Czech goaltender - and Anaheim Ducks netminder - Lukas Dostal. Crosby's first assist came in the first half of the second period, when he fed Mitch Marner, who made a gorgeous pass at the net-front to Mark Stone, who finished the play.
Bo Horvat added another tally near the end of the period, and the score was 3-0 heading into the final frame. Seven and a half minutes in, Czechia's Dominik Kubalik went to the box for inteference, and - just 13 seconds later on the ensuing power play - Crosby, McDavid, and Nathan MacKinnon went tic-tac-toe for MacKinnon's first goal of the tournament to make it 4-0.
Montreal Canadiens' star Nick Suzuki scored Canada's final goal of the game - with th primary assist from McDavid - later in the period to secure the 5-0 win, and Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington posted a 26-save shutout.
Canada next plays Switzerland Friday at 3:10 p.m. ET.
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