In an indication of the heightened level of these games at the Olympics, Connor McDavid threw an early hit in the corner of the offensive zone. Moments later, Czechia dragged McDavid down, and that sent what promises to be a productive power play onto the ice. It did have a few chances in its first two minutes of action in the tournament, but the Czechs did a good job defending to keep Canada off the board.
Canada was the first team to put the puck in the net as Nathan MacKinnon flew into the zone, took a pass from Nick Suzuki, and scored. However, on the pass, Suzuki’s stick blade ended up in the feet of a defender and led to him tripping, wiping out the goal and giving Czechia its first power play of the game. Like the Czechs, the Canadians defended well to allow Suzuki to exit the penalty box.
Play was quite even in a long stretch of five-on-five play that followed the penalties, with chances for both teams. But six seconds before the opening period came to a close, a point shot from Cale Makar was deflected just below the level of the crossbar by Macklin Celebrini, and the 19-year-old forward officially opened the scoring for his nation. A net-front presence was a clear message to the Canadian players from the coaching staff, and that style of offence sent the team to the intermission with a 1-0 lead.
The Czechs came out in the second period looking like the better team, but that didn’t translate to a goal, and that proved costly. At 6:40, Mitch Marner took the puck off the boards and drew the attention of the defence as he cut to the net. At the last second, he dished off to NHL teammate Mark Stone for a shot from the side of the net, and the result was 2-0 lead for Canada.
A two-on-one for Brandon Hagel and McDavid threatened to extend the lead to 3-0, but goaltender Lukas Dostal made two exceptional saves on McDavid at the side of the net to hold his country in the game.
The Czechs one again started to take over the play following the goal and rebuilt an edge in shots. The quality of Canada’s forward group made the difference yet again as Brad Marchand hit a charging Bo Horvat with a pass, and Horvat finished the play with a quick deke to the backhand to send the puck through Dostal’s five-hole for a 3-0 lead.
The horn sounded on a second period that the Czechs probably deserved better in given their play, but faced a three-goal deficit heading into the final frame.
With seven-and-a-half minutes played, Canada earned its second power play when Connor McDavid was interfered with on his way to the net. It took MacKinnon 13 seconds to take advantage after a no-look saucer pass across the crease from McDavid to give him a tap-in to extend the lead to 4-0.
The shots started to get piled up by Canada as Czechia, which had gone toe-to-toe with one of the favourites through two periods, started to run out of steam with the result all but assured. After a few minutes of Canadian chances, Suzuki extended the edge to 5-0. McDavid sent the puck to the net where Suzuki was standing, and the puck ticked off Suzuki’s blade and up and over the pad of Dostal.
Czechia was unable to solve Binnington in the final minutes, and the goaltender claimed the shutout in the 5-0 win.
The final buzzer sounded on what will look on paper like a blowout for Team Canada, but it was given a good test by a hard-working Czech club. Both teams will be back in action on Friday when Canada takes on another good squad in Switzerland, while Czechia will play its most winnable game of the group stage versus France.
