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Instant Reaction: Canada wins overtime thriller over Sweden in 4 Nations opener
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Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
By Ryan Pike
Feb 12, 2025, 23:13 ESTUpdated: Feb 12, 2025, 23:19 EST
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The 4 Nations Face-Off kicked off on Wednesday evening in Montreal with an entertaining clash between Canada and Sweden. Canada dominated the early part of the game, but Sweden rallied back in the second half of the game and the opening game of the tournament ended up requiring overtime.
A back-and-forth overtime capped a back-and-forth, with Canada winning in overtime by a 4-3 score.

The rundown

Canada opened the scoring in the first minute of the first period. William Nylander was called for high-sticking, and it took 15 seconds for Nathan MacKinnon to bury a pass from Sidney Crosby to give Canada a power play goal and a 1-0 lead.
Midway through the period, Canada doubled their lead off a heck of a rush sequence. Brayden Point fed Brad Marchand, and Marchand blasted the puck past Filip Gustavsson to give Canada a 2-0 lead.
Sweden didn’t register their first shot on goal until there was 2:44 left in the first period.
First period shots were 7-3 Canada. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 11-4 Canada (high-danger chances were 6-0 Canada).
The second period was much more even, with Sweden starting to get their legs under them and building some momentum. Midway through the period, Jonas Brodin fired a shot from the far edge of the circles in the Canadian zone and beat Jordan Binnington over his shoulder to cut Canada’s lead to 2-1.
Sweden kept pressing, but couldn’t translate zone time into more high-danger scoring chances. Crosby snatched the puck from Sweden and led a rush into their zone, then curled back and fed Mark Stone in the slot. Stone’s shot beat Gustavsson to restore a two-goal Canada lead at 3-1.
Second period shots were 9-7 Sweden. Five-on-five scoring chances were 11-8 Sweden (high-danger chances were 3-2 Sweden).
Early in the third period, Adrian Kempe made a great shot off the rush, beating Binnington stick-side to cut Canada’s lead further to 3-2.
Later on, off an offensive-zone face-off win for Sweden, Jesper Bratt found Joel Eriksson Ek at the far side of Canada’s crease with a superb pass. Eriksson Ek chipped the puck past Binnington to tie the game at 3-3.
Canada had a few chances to retake the lead, including a great chance by Devon Toews, but Gustavsson stood tall.
Third period shots were 10-6 Sweden. Five-on-five scoring chances were 7-5 Canada (high-danger chances were 2-2).
This tournament uses 10 minutes of three-on-three overtime, and these two teams went end to end for just over six minutes.
Mitch Marner beat Gustavsson off the rush to give Canada a 4-3 victory.

This and that

Here’s how Canada lined up:
Reinhart – McDavid – Marner
Crosby – MacKinnon – Stone
Marchand – Point – Jarvis
Hagel – Cirelli – Konecny
Toews – Makar
Morrissey – Parayko
Theodore – Doughty
Binnington
(Hill)
Scratches: Montembeault, Sanheim, Bennett
Shea Theodore left the game midway through the second period and didn’t return.
Here’s how Sweden looked:
Forsberg – Pettersson – Kempe
Rakell – Zibanejad – Nylander
Bratt – Eriksson Ek – Raymond
Arvidsson – Lindholm – Nyquist
Hedman – Brodin
Ekholm – Karlsson
Forsling – Dahlin
Gustavsson
(Ullmark)
Scratches: Ersson, Andersson, Carlsson

Up next

Sweden (0-0-1, 1 point) plays Finland on Saturday.
Canada (1-0-0, 2 points) plays USA on Saturday.
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