Marner scored 6:06 into overtime, and Canada recovered to defeat Sweden 4-3 in an emotional, fast-paced first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre on Wednesday, the first best-on-best competition since the World Cup of Hockey 2016.
“I’ve been saying we’ve been missing best-on-best and that’s obviously why,” Canada center Connor McDavid said. “That’s as high-end a game as you’re going to find, as fast a game as you’re going to find. Skilled, great players doing great things. That’s what we’ve been missing for a decade now. It was a great game all around.”
Marner ended it with his own dream goal. He took a drop pass from Crosby in the neutral zone, and as Canada’s captain was going for a change, Marner found some space down the middle.
As Crosby hopped over the boards onto the bench, Marner knifed through, pushing Sweden defenseman Erik Karlsson back, and ripped a shot into the net from between the circles to end a frantic, fast-paced 3-on-3 overtime.
“You tell 10-year-old Mitch that he scored an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, the guy he looked up to since Day 1, yeah, it’s pretty crazy,” Marner said. “I’m sure my family is going to be very excited about that one. It’s going to be a really cool thing that I get to have now.”
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