With shots 6-2 Canada six minutes into the opening period, France took the first penalty of the game when Macklin Celebrini was pulled down by Pierre Crinon. The power play looked as dangerous as it has all tournament, and while it didn’t score, the pressure carried through to five-on-five, and Tom Wilson buried a rebound to open the scoring for the Canadians.
Just 13 seconds later, France got the goal right back. A giveaway from Colton Parayko led to a quick shot that Jordan Binnington couldn’t corral, and Floran Douay was able to bound in a rebound goal as well.
Feeling confident in their scoring ability, France overextended to much looking for a second goal, and allowed a three-on-one the other way. Sidney Crosby played the puck back to a trailing Devon Toews, and Canada’s lead was restored.
With just over a minute to play in the opening period, France received a power play on a hold by Travis Sanheim behind the net. It was Canada that took advantage of the special-teams situation, as Mark Stone picked off a pass from Alexandre Texier outside Canada’s blue line, and went in to flip a slow backhand shot past Julian Junca to give his team a 3-1 edge.
Going into the game with the goal of building up a large goal differential, Canada probably would have hoped for more than a two-goal lead after 20 minutes. They had some work to do in the final 40 minutes to get more breakdowns of the French defensive coverage.
Macklin Celebrini got hooked in the opening minutes of the second period to send Canada to another power play. As it did in the first period, France survived the man disadvantage situation, and this time Junca was able to smother the puck to give his penalty-killers a rest before Canada could carry its momentum to five-on-five.
Canada had a great chance to extend the lead when McDavid and Brandon Hagel went in on a two-on-one. McDavid got the pass across, but Hagel’s shot went off the post to keep the lead at just two goals.
The Canadians did a better job of capitalizing on their next power play. With Yohann Auvitu off for interference, Cale Makar was given some space at the top of the zone, and he walked in to the top of the circle and ripped the puck in to put Canada up 4-1.
That latest goal inspired Canada to keep the pressure on trying to extend the lead. Junca had to make several great stops in the minutes that followed to maintain the score.
With 2:44 to play in the second, Macklin Celebrini was taken down on a breakaway, setting the teenager up with a penalty shot. He went in with some speed, carrying the puck on his backhand, then quickly pulled it to his forehand and sent the puck between the arm and the body on Junca.
Just 19 seconds later, Sidney Crosby added a sixth goal. Stone claimed a takeaway inside the blue line and got the puck to his captain. Crosby attempted to send a pass to the side of the net, but it went off a defender and deflected back in the opposite direction to Junca’s heading, and trickled into the net.
Through 40 minutes, the Canadians were feeling good with the five-goal edge, aiming to add a few more in the final 20 minutes.
It took just 20 seconds for Canada to grow the lead to 7-1. McDavid collected the puck in his own zone and completed a quick give-and-go with Celebrini to get behind the defence and went in to score on goaltender Antoine Keller, who came on for the third period.
That particular goal was matched a minute later when Sacha Treille wound up a big slapshot and fired the puck off the arm of Jordan Binnington and in to make it 7-2.
Bo Horvat continued the offensive start to the final frame when he had a rebound fall to him on the goal line and was able to send the puck into the net from a sharp angle, giving Canada an eighth goal.
Canada’s ninth goal came on a one-timer from Hagel. MacKinnon drew the attention of the French defence by carrying the puck to the slot then quickly set up his winger with a one-timer.
MacKinnon was caught with a high hit behind the net that warranted a review from the officials. They determined it was just a two-minute minor. That was still plenty long enough for Canada to extend their goal-scoring to double digits when Celebrini got the puck at the right circle, used some open space to work the puck right to middle, and fired in his second goal of the game.
With seven minutes to go, Wilson went after Crinon to get some retribution for the hit on MacKinnon. Crinon didn’t back down from the altercation, and the two ending up dropping the gloves. Both players were assessed roughing, fighting, and game misconduct penalties.
MacKinnon wasn’t satisfied with his teammate coming to his defence, so went out on his next shift hitting every French player in his vicinity. For his efforts, he was giving a two-minute timeout in the penalty box.
With the win, the stage is set for Team USA in its quest to finish first overall. The Americans take a +7 goal differential into that contest while Canada leads the way at +17. The United States will therefore need to match that difference in the game versus Germany to take the top spot, as they would have one more goal scored, but Germany is probably too strong a team to suffer a 10-goal loss in the final game of preliminary-round action.
