MILAN (AP) — With the clock ticking down and Canada trailing Czechia with mere minutes left in an elimination game at the Olympics, even the most hardened players with gold medals and Stanley Cup rings started to feel butterflies.
“I never had a doubt, but it was getting a little nerve-wracking,” grizzled defenseman Drew Doughty said.
After losing captain Sidney Crosby to injury, Canada was staring down what would have been a stunning quarterfinal exit until Nick Suzuki tied it on a deflection goal with 3:27 left. Then Mitch Marner scored a little over a minute into overtime to beat Czechia 4-3 on Wednesday and send the tournament favorite into the semifinals.
“Everybody had complete faith in whoever was going over the boards,” coach Jon Cooper said. “It just felt it was like a matter of time. It was going to happen.”
The nerves were palpable when Canada fell behind with 7:42 remaining on Ondrej Palat’s goal on an odd-man rush off a pass from Martin Necas. Replays showed Czechia had six skaters on the ice, which Nathan MacKinnon said he and his teammates were aware of, even if on-ice officials didn’t notice.
Suzuki just about did it all on the tying goal, sending the puck out to the point to Devon Toews and then redirecting the defenseman’s shot that was going well wide past Lukas Dostal and into the net.
“Toewser gave me a perfect opportunity to tip it,” Suzuki said. “Just trying to put something on net there.”
Jordan Binnington denied David Pastrnak on a breakaway with 70 seconds left to send the game past regulation. It was the biggest of Binnington’s 21 saves in an excellent performance from Canada’s starter.
Then Marner summoned some more heroics playing for Canada, scoring his second OT goal in an international tournament in as many chances. Marner also scored in a similar fashion a year ago at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“It’s the it factor, man: Mitch Marner’s got it,” Cooper said. “He doesn’t disappoint. Sometimes your hair falls out at times, but in the end, he never disappoints.”
Canada could now face Finland, Switzerland or Sweden in the semifinals Friday. The U.S. plays Sweden in the fourth and final quarterfinal on Wednesday night.
Since arriving at the Olympics, Slovakia’s players and coaches acknowledged they would lean heavily on Juraj Slafkovsky. They also emphasized it cannot be just about the emerging Montreal Canadiens star to make any kind of run.
That was the message before playing Germany in the quarterfinals.
“We were saying, ‘It doesn’t matter who’s going to score,’” Slafkovsky said. “We just need that one extra goal.”
They got a few extra. Dalibor Dvorsky turned in another brilliant performance with a goal and an assist, fellow NHL forward Pavol Regenda scored twice as part of his three-point game and Slovakia dominated Germany 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the semifinals and guarantee playing for a medal in Milan.
“Amazing,” said alternate captain Erik Cernak, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning. “Before the tournament, if we would say we’re going to make semifinals, probably people would laugh at you. But we did it, and it’s not done yet.”
Slovakia got an injury scare in the second period when the 21-year-old Slafkovsky, the reigning Olympic MVP, went head-first into the boards and was slow to get up. A trainer applied an ice pack to the back of Slafkovsky’s neck, and he held it on himself when he got up to celebrate a goal scored while he was getting medical attention.
“I’m OK,” Slafkovsky said. “I was a little shaken up, but after a couple minutes I felt OK again. I went out there, and head wasn’t spinning. I was seeing normal.”
Slafkovsky was held off the scoresheet until assisting on captain Tomas Tatar’s empty-net goal with 3:27 left, and he was thrilled to see his teammates fill the net instead.
“I don’t think it does matter if Slafko has some points,” defenseman Martin Fehervary said. “He can do some other work for us, and we have plenty of players who can score, as well.”
Dvorsky, who plays for the St. Louis Blues, and Regenda, who split time between the San Jose Sharks and their American Hockey League affiliate this season, led the way offensively. Dvorsky made the initial pass that led to Milos Kelemen’s goal and had a terrific individual effort to spring himself for his third goal at the Olympics.
At the other end of the rink, Minnesota Wild goaltending prospect Samuel Hlavaj did his job, making 25 saves and allowing only goals to Lukas Reichel, off a feed from Leon Draisaitl, and to Frederik Tiffels on the power play.
Slovakia as the No. 3 seed can face any of the U.S., Finland, Switzerland, Sweden or Czechia in the semifinals Friday, depending on how the rest of the results go.
“We just have to keep working, and whatever opening comes next, we’re going to be ready for whoever,” Regenda said. “We have to be as a team as we are. We have great guys, and we have to stick as a team.”
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