MILAN (AP) — Giving penalties against Canada in the Olympics is a bad idea. Niko Mikkola’s high on Nathan MacKinnon in the final minutes was a very bad idea for Finland.
Canada has an abundance of high-end talent, and that’s never been more apparent than on the power play, where it can put arguably three of the five or six best hockey players on the planet on the court at once, namely Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Kyle Makar.
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Despite captain Sidney Crosby being sidelined with an injury, Macklin Celebrini filling in and Sam Reinhart stopping in front of the net, the team took the lead with 35.2 seconds left on Friday to help Canada advance to the gold medal game. McDavid traced the development of the power play back to the Four Nations Tournament a year ago.
“We worked a lot on this power play,” McDavid said. “Things we talk about a lot. We do it for these big moments and find a way to score in the big moments.”
The Canadian team made 7 of 16 shots on the power play, with a success rate of 43.75%. For reference, the NHL’s season-best power play efficiency record of 32.4% was set by the 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers, a team that also boasts McDavid.
McDavid’s saucer pass over penalty killer Roope Hintz’s stick and to MacKinnon was the latest example of him being considered the league’s best player.
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“I was trying to badminton there earlier and a guy had his stick against it, but he got open again and just tried to get the ball to him,” McDavid said.
McDavid also had the assist on the team’s first power-play goal against Finland, when Makar fired the puck directly toward Reinhardt’s stick, causing a textbook deflection that Jus Saros had little chance to stop.
“He’s in a good position,” Makar said. “They gave me a little chance, and (Reinhardt) is obviously a great player that can read their PK or defense well and he put himself in a good position. I just tried to get there and he made a great play.”
This target cuts Canada’s deficit in half and relieves some pressure. MacKinnon’s game-winning goal after Shea Theodore tied the game with less than 10 minutes left was more than just a performance by him and McDavid.
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Celebrini, the 19-year-old Canada’s youngest player at the Olympics, picked up his second assist and made a big impact by jumping in to cover Saros as MacKinnon shot.
Asked if he had ever seen a player his age play as well as Celebrini, the 36-year-old Drew Doughty replied, “No, I didn’t.” In 2010, when the 20-year-old Doughty was the youngest player on the team that won the gold medal at home in Vancouver, Canada, he quipped: “I didn’t play as good as him.”
Celebrini also played as a balanced force alongside McDavid and MacKinnon under the guidance of coach Jon Cooper. He led all players with eight shots and was what Cooper called the “Three Macs,” driving Canada’s offense at 5-on-5 throughout the game.
“It’s amazing,” forward Bo Horvat said. “They were obviously our best defensive line tonight, they created so much offense, they had such great chemistry. They all think alike and they were great for us again.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
