photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
Canada turned on the offence when it had to and suppressed a tremendous effort by the Swiss to win 5-1 tonight. This marked the 12th win in a row for Canada’s NHL players going back to a perfect 2014 and the final four games of the Vancouver Olympics.
It also improves Sidney Crosby’s career best-on-best record to 23-2, including the 2016 World Cup and the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.
Canada now sits atop Group A with a 2-0 record and six points, and can clinch top spot on Sunday with a win over France. The Swiss play earlier that day against Czechia in a potential battle for second place and superior placing for the re-seeding prior to the Qualification Round.
Linemates Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and two assists.
"Nate's a guy I watch a lot of," McDavid said. "I'm a big fan of his. I've been watching a lot of Colorado games, so I have an understanding of where Nate likes to go and where to be. We play the game similarly, too. I think we have a good understanding of where we might want the puck."
Impressive as the win was, the game ended on a miserable note. Late in the game, Tom Wilson and Kevin Fiala gort tangled along the boards, and it appeared Wilson fell awkwardly on Fiala's leg. The Swiss star had to be taken off on a stretcher, and from all appearances this is an injury of some significance.
"We look good," said Canada's defender Drew Doughty. "Every time the other team pushes back on us, we respond right away. We need to keep building our game. I think we've still got even more in us, but Swiss was a good team. That was a hard-fought game, and it's a big win for us."
As for Fiala's injury, Doughty was as concerned as anyone. "I wanted to go over there when he was laying on the ground, but I just said something to him going off the ice, and I'm going to go find him as fast as I can right now."
"I think we had definitely some good stretches," said Philipp Kurashev, "but they're a really good team, and they're going to make you pay when you make some mistakes."
There was a sea of red and white in Santagiulia tonight, and although most of it was for Switzerland, there was enough Canadian content to make noise both ways.
On ice, the players treated fans to a ridiculous level of hockey. Canada, the favourites, created more of the best scoring chances, but the Swiss were effective in the Canadian end and had their opponents scrambling more than once.
We got a sense of what kind of a game it would be in the opening minute when a quick point shot from Shea Theodore rattled off the crossbar in behind the shoulder of Akira Schmid.
Nino Niederreiter came right back and had a great chance to open the scoring. He had Logan Thompson beat on the deke, but the goalie reached out and took the puck away at the last second.
The Canadians opened the scoring on their incredible power play. Nathan MacKinnon found Connor McDavid with a cross-ice pass, and he waited a moment for Schmid to go down before threading a shot under the goalie’s pads at 5:45.
Mitch Marner made a falling, lunging pass at the blue line to Sidney Crosby, who went in alone and deked Schmid, only to have his high backhand catch the skate of the goalie and stay out.
Midway through the period, McDavid, from about the spot he scored, made a cross-ice pass the other way to Thomas Harley, and Harley converted the shot at 10:54 to give Canada an impressive 2-0 lead.
But the Swiss got a power play soon after and got on the scoreboard. Thompson stopped long shot but the puck bounced off the crossbar and dropped down. Pius Suter smacked it in from the blue ice, putting the Swiss right back in the game.
It was the first goal Canada’s NHLers had allowed since the quarter-finals of the 2014 Olympics against Latvia. After that, they shut out the United States (semi-finals) and Sweden (to win gold) and then Czechia just yesterday.
Canada added to their lead early in the second on a play so fast that if you blinked, you missed it. MacKinnon got the puck behind the Swiss net, flicked it to Macklin Celebrini in front, and the 19-year-old's lightning shot beat Schmid to the short side at 4:14.
Crosby made it 4-1 at 7:28 of the third when he redirected another sensational pass in front by Mitch Marner, giving Canada a bit of insurance after the Swiss had again applied good pressure in the Canada end and come up empty.
MacKinnon made it 5-1, but it was McDavid who produced the highlight-reel play. He came out front with a couple of dazzling moves and was stopped by Schmid, but MacKinnon was there to flick the puck into the open side.
"I think everybody is working through the systems," McDavid added. "Maybe that familiarity from the Four Nations helps, too. A little bit of that carryover, an understanding what the coaching staff is asking from us. And getting good goaltending, too."
It also improves Sidney Crosby’s career best-on-best record to 23-2, including the 2016 World Cup and the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.
Canada now sits atop Group A with a 2-0 record and six points, and can clinch top spot on Sunday with a win over France. The Swiss play earlier that day against Czechia in a potential battle for second place and superior placing for the re-seeding prior to the Qualification Round.
Linemates Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and two assists.
"Nate's a guy I watch a lot of," McDavid said. "I'm a big fan of his. I've been watching a lot of Colorado games, so I have an understanding of where Nate likes to go and where to be. We play the game similarly, too. I think we have a good understanding of where we might want the puck."
Impressive as the win was, the game ended on a miserable note. Late in the game, Tom Wilson and Kevin Fiala gort tangled along the boards, and it appeared Wilson fell awkwardly on Fiala's leg. The Swiss star had to be taken off on a stretcher, and from all appearances this is an injury of some significance.
"We look good," said Canada's defender Drew Doughty. "Every time the other team pushes back on us, we respond right away. We need to keep building our game. I think we've still got even more in us, but Swiss was a good team. That was a hard-fought game, and it's a big win for us."
As for Fiala's injury, Doughty was as concerned as anyone. "I wanted to go over there when he was laying on the ground, but I just said something to him going off the ice, and I'm going to go find him as fast as I can right now."
"I think we had definitely some good stretches," said Philipp Kurashev, "but they're a really good team, and they're going to make you pay when you make some mistakes."
There was a sea of red and white in Santagiulia tonight, and although most of it was for Switzerland, there was enough Canadian content to make noise both ways.
On ice, the players treated fans to a ridiculous level of hockey. Canada, the favourites, created more of the best scoring chances, but the Swiss were effective in the Canadian end and had their opponents scrambling more than once.
We got a sense of what kind of a game it would be in the opening minute when a quick point shot from Shea Theodore rattled off the crossbar in behind the shoulder of Akira Schmid.
Nino Niederreiter came right back and had a great chance to open the scoring. He had Logan Thompson beat on the deke, but the goalie reached out and took the puck away at the last second.
The Canadians opened the scoring on their incredible power play. Nathan MacKinnon found Connor McDavid with a cross-ice pass, and he waited a moment for Schmid to go down before threading a shot under the goalie’s pads at 5:45.
Mitch Marner made a falling, lunging pass at the blue line to Sidney Crosby, who went in alone and deked Schmid, only to have his high backhand catch the skate of the goalie and stay out.
Midway through the period, McDavid, from about the spot he scored, made a cross-ice pass the other way to Thomas Harley, and Harley converted the shot at 10:54 to give Canada an impressive 2-0 lead.
But the Swiss got a power play soon after and got on the scoreboard. Thompson stopped long shot but the puck bounced off the crossbar and dropped down. Pius Suter smacked it in from the blue ice, putting the Swiss right back in the game.
It was the first goal Canada’s NHLers had allowed since the quarter-finals of the 2014 Olympics against Latvia. After that, they shut out the United States (semi-finals) and Sweden (to win gold) and then Czechia just yesterday.
Canada added to their lead early in the second on a play so fast that if you blinked, you missed it. MacKinnon got the puck behind the Swiss net, flicked it to Macklin Celebrini in front, and the 19-year-old's lightning shot beat Schmid to the short side at 4:14.
Crosby made it 4-1 at 7:28 of the third when he redirected another sensational pass in front by Mitch Marner, giving Canada a bit of insurance after the Swiss had again applied good pressure in the Canada end and come up empty.
MacKinnon made it 5-1, but it was McDavid who produced the highlight-reel play. He came out front with a couple of dazzling moves and was stopped by Schmid, but MacKinnon was there to flick the puck into the open side.
"I think everybody is working through the systems," McDavid added. "Maybe that familiarity from the Four Nations helps, too. A little bit of that carryover, an understanding what the coaching staff is asking from us. And getting good goaltending, too."
Canada vs Switzerland - 2026 Men's Olympic Games
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