McDavid has notched the opening goal in back-to-back games at 4 Nations after scoring first on Saturday, which wound up being their only goal in a 3-1 defeat to Team USA. But this time, it would take Canada less than a minute to solve their opponents again and give themselves a multi-goal lead.
Nathan MacKinnon would streak in and snipe Canada to a 2-0 advantage only 46 seconds after McDavid opened the scoring before No. 97 got back on the scoresheet almost eight minutes later with an assist on Point’s finish that came off a rebound chance generated by a shot on goal from Travis Sanheim.
The Oilers captain had a goal and an assist, was plus-2 and recorded two of his team’s 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes while forming instant early chemistry next to Stone and Point.
The nearly 11-hour drive from Cole Harbour to Boston made it possible for plenty of Nova Scotians to make it to Massachusetts and provide good representation for Canada inside TD Garden on Saturday, and there were a lot of happy fans when their city’s two prized exports in Nate MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby combined off the forecheck to make it 4-0 just over five minutes into the second period.
That goal chased Kevin Lankinen from the Finland crease after the Vancouver Canucks netminder conceded four goals on 13 shots, leading to Juuse Saros taken over between the pipes and looking sharp by making the next six shots to keep it a four-goal deficit for Finland – including a magical move by McDavid circling the net and opening up a shooting chance for Point in the slot.
Jordan Binnington was looking composed at the other end for Canada, making all 17 stops required through 40 minutes before defenceman Esa Lindell broke up his shutout with 6:41 remaining in the third period after beating him off the far post from a tight angle inside the right circle.
After a solid 15 minutes from Canada defensively to begin the final frame, the Finns pulled Saros for the extra attacker and made them work for the victory, pulling to within a goal at 4-3 with 1:17 left for them to find an equalizer behind back-to-back goals from Mikael Granlund at six-on-five.
However, Crosby dashed that Finnish flash by blowing up Granlund at centre ice with a big hit before Sam Reinhart was able to get him the puck to flip the insurance marker all the way down into the empty cage to complete the 5-3 victory.
By way of a regulation win, Canada eliminated Team Sweden ahead of their meeting with the United States later in the evening, as they’d lose on a head-to-head tiebreaker with Canada as a result of their 4-3 overtime victory to open the tournament back last Tuesday.
