Goalie makes 26 saves as Canada opens with convincing 5-0 win over a very sound Czechia
St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was done, supposedly. He cannot possibly be the starter for Canada at the the Milano Cortina Olympics.
Those were a few of the sentiments heading into the games in Milan, Italy.
But Canada coach Jon Cooper knew what he had and who would show up when games matter most, and Binnington was sharp early and pitched a 26-save shutout in Canada's opener and Binnington's Olympic debut, 5-0 against Czechia at Milano Santagiulia IHO Arena on Thursday.
Binnington had to be at his best early in the game, particularly the first period, when he faced 11 shots and made a couple of key saves on Tomas Hertl (Vegas Golden Knights) and another on David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins) when the game was tight and Czechia was playing toe-to-toe with the mighty Canadians.
There was obvious speculation heading into the games who would get the nod for Canada in the opener with Logan Thompson (Washington Capitals) and Darcy Kuemper (Los Angeles Kings) also on the roster and Binnington with sub-standard numbers with the Blues this season.
But when asked in his postgame presser by reporters, Cooper said he knew that Binnington would be his Game 1 starter:
It was Binnington's first international game since making 31 saves in a 3-2 overtime win over the United States in the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The goalie received proper homage from TNT commentator Paul Bissonnette as well:
Blues defenseman Colton Parayko also made his Olympic debut and played 17:38 without recording a point.
Canada would eventually grab a 1-0 lead late in the first period on a tip-in goal by Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks) and pull away with a pair of goals in each of the second and third periods.
But at least for one game, Binnington once again silenced the critics. Shocking.
* Switzerland 4, France 0 -- The Swiss, one of the tournament dark horses, made easy work of France in the other Group A preliminary matchup, getting two goals from Timo Meier (New Jersey Devils).
Blues center Pius Suter had one shot on goal and was a plus-1 in 14:11 of ice time for the Swiss, who will face Canada likely for the Group A first place finish on Friday.
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