A day before the quarterfinals, Czechia forward David Pastrnak mused aloud that Team Canada might be the greatest hockey team ever and suggested it was important not to give Canada too much respect.
Then, in the quarterfinals, Pastrnak and his plucky teammates took that advice to heart, taking a lead on a Canadian Olympic team featuring NHL players for the first time since the preliminary round in Vancouver 2010. Not only that, Czechia held a lead late in the third period and then had a breakaway in the waning moments of regulation after Canada had tied the game at 3-3.
And it still wasn’t enough.
Pushed to the brink by Pastrnak and his Czech mates, the uber skilled Canadians tied the game late on Nick Suzuki’s deft tip-in goal and then prevailed on Mitch Marner’s virtuoso performance in overtime. The emotional 4-3 win came in spite of the loss of captain and inspirational leader, Sidney Crosby, early in the second period to a lower-body injury after sustaining a collection of heavy hits from Czechian players, most notably Radko Gudas.
He did not return to the game and his availability for Canada’s semifinal game against Finland Friday afternoon in Milan is unknown.
“Sid is by no means is ruled out of the tournament,” head coach Jon Cooper said after an optional skate Friday that was well-attended.
“We’re taking this day by day. And we’re not going to put anyone in harm’s way. But if he can play, he’s definitely going to. We’ll know more in 24 hours,” Cooper added.
Marner’s heroics paved the way for a date with Team Finland that likewise had to mount a comeback to stay alive in this ever more enthralling tournament.
"A little bit like Finland, too. Your tournament kind of flashes before your eyes,” Canadian forward Connor McDavid said.
“Makes you grateful for another day here in this tournament, grateful for another game,” the Olympic scoring leader added. “They feel the same way, I'm sure. I know we feel energized by it. I'm sure they do, too. It'll be a great game tomorrow."
The Finns trailed 2-0 to a plucky Swiss team well into the third period in their quarterfinal match before tying it with netminder Jusse Saros on the bench, and then, like Canada, won it in overtime with Artturi Lehkonen scoring in overtime to keep Finland’s gold medal dreams alive.
Both the Canadians and Finns were heavily favoured to win their quarterfinal games and both teams revealed a high level of maturity and belief in their respective systems in not crumbling when it looked as though disaster was at hand.
"You have that experience now as a group that you can come through some adversity, and I think it's good. I think it's useful,” said Finnish forward Sebastian Aho who scored the first goal for Finland in their comeback.
Aho echoed Pastrnak’s sentiments as the Finns will be significant underdogs to Canada. At least on paper.
“You still got to play your game, right? We have our own structure, own things that we like to execute,” Aho said. “There's going to be times in the game that we have to defend, that we have to live to fight another day. But I think it's well said by [David Pastrnak]. We know that we have the firepower, but at the same time, we're just going to do our job as well as we can and hopefully that'll get us a good result."
Regardless of whether Crosby is able to play or not, one of the storylines for Canada’s clash with Finland will be the potential for Cooper to load up one of the most dynamic forward lines hockey has seen in a long time in McDavid with Nathan MacKinnon and Macklin Celebrini. McDavid with 11 points and Celebrini with nine sit first and second in Olympic tournament scoring.
The trio have been dubbed the Mach 3 line.
If Crosby can’t go in the semifinal, it would mean both teams would be without their captains from last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Aleksander Barkov has missed the entire season with a knee injury. Both teams have rosters chockablock with veteran leadership, though, as witnessed by their fortitude in advancing past difficult quarterfinal opponents.
“Dedicated group, they check, structured, world-class players,” Cooper said of Team Finland. “I think we all saw that at 4 Nations. The Finns, I don’t care where you are, what tournament it is, the Finns always seem to be standing when it comes to medal time. And if you remotely take that team lightly, they’re going to bite you.’’