It’s called the 4 Nations Face-Off, so why not mix in four periods of hockey?
The opening game of the international best-on-best competition on Wednesday needed overtime, when Team Canada forward Mitch Marner scored on a shot from just above the right hashmark for a 4-3 win over Team Sweden 6:06 into the extra frame.
Canada needed less than a minute to open the tournament’s scoring, as Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid set up Nathan MacKinnon’s 1-0 tally 56 seconds in on the power play.
Lightning forward Brayden Point became the first Tampa Bay player to record a point in the tournament when Brad Marchand buried his pass on a 2-on-1 rush, making it 2-0 with 6:35 left in the first period.
Point’s usual teammate Victor Hedman helped Sweden get on the board in period two.
Hedman—serving as Team Sweden’s captain—dished the puck to his defensive partner in Jonas Brodin, who scored on a shot from the right circle to slash Canada’s lead to 2-1 midway through the second period.
A Mark Stone goal regained Canada’s two-goal lead with 2:32 left in the second period, but Sweden opened the scoring in the third period on an Adrian Kempe shot on the rush to make it 3-2. Swedish forward Joel Eriksson Ek then scored with 11:01 left in regulation to force overtime.
Crosby led all players with three assists, while forward Lucas Raymond’s two assists led Sweden. Tampa Bay forward Brandon Hagel finished with five hits, the most by any player in the game. Teammate Anthony Cirelli went 3-for-5 in the faceoff circle.
Sweden now plays Finland at 1 p.m. on Saturday, the same day Team Canada will face Team USA and Lightning forward Jake Guentzel at 8 p.m.
Scoring Summary
First period
CAN 1, SWE 0
00:56 Nathan MacKinnon (1) – Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid – PP
CAN 2, SWE 0
13:15 Brad Marchand (1) – Brayden Point, Seth Jarvis
Shots on goal: CAN 7, SWE 3
Second period
CAN 2, SWE 1
9:33 Jonas Brodin (1) – Victor Hedman, Lucas Raymond
CAN 3, SWE 1
17:28 Mark Stone (1) – Crosby, Colton Parayko
Shots on goal: SWE 9, CAN 7
Third period
CAN 3, SWE 2
1:54 Adrian Kempe (1) – Erik Karlsson, Mattias Ekholm
CAN 3, SWE 3
8:59 Eriksson Ek (1) – Jesper Bratt, Lucas Raymond
Overtime
6:06 Mitch Marner (1) – Crosby
TBL Player Summary
- Brayden Point (CAN): Assist, 14:18 TOI, 2 blocked shots, 1/1 faceoffs.
- Anthony Cirelli (CAN): 12:22 TOI, shot, 2 hits, blocked shot, 3/5 faceoffs.
- Brandon Hagel (CAN): 15:24 TOI, shot, 5 hits, blocked shot, 1/1 faceoffs.
- Victor Hedman (SWE): Assist, 27:15 TOI, shot, 3 blocked shots.
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