Macklin Celebrini, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon combined in the win for Canada
San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini has been exciting so far at the Winter Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
It was impossible for him not to.
Playing alongside two of the NHL’s leading scorers, Celebrini had a goal and an assist Friday as Canada cruised to a 5-1 victory over Switzerland and Sharks forward Philipp Kurashev at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Celebrini scored off a pass from Nathan MacKinnon at the 4:14 mark of the second period for his second goal in as many games to give Canada a 3-1 lead.
The 19-year-old wunderkind then created a huge turnover in Switzerland’s territory in the third period and found the ball from Connor McDavid, whose shot on net was blocked by goalkeeper Akira Schmid before MacKinnon scored as the Canadians built a three-goal lead.
Team Canada coach Jon Cooper put MacKinnon in front of Celebrini and McDavid late in the first half, as Switzerland began to gain momentum after Pius Suter’s power-play goal with 7:18 left in the first frame.
The result was magical, as Celebrini, MacKinnon, and McDavid combined for five points in the final two periods as Canada (2-0-0-0) moved into first place in Group A.
At the Olympics break, McDavid, captain of the Edmonton Oilers, led the NHL with 96 points, followed by MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche with 93. Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning has 91 points, while Celebrini is far and away the leading scorer for the Sharks with 81 points.
The Canadians can clinch first place in the group and a place in the quarterfinals with a win over France on Sunday. The top four teams in the 12-team tournament qualify for the quarterfinals and do not have to play in the play-offs, which consist of the teams that finished in fifth to 12th place after group play.
Celebrini also scored as Canada opened the tournament with a 5-0 win over the Czech Republic on Thursday.
On Thursday, the Canadians took a 2-0 lead at the 10:54 mark of the first half on goals by McDavid and Thomas Harley. But Switzerland responded with a power play goal by Suter, who flicked a loose ball past goalkeeper Logan Thompson at 12:42 to cut Canada’s lead to 2-1.
The goal sparked a huge celebration inside the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, as thousands of Swiss fans made the short trip across the Italian border to make their presence felt.
Kurashev was expecting a few of his friends and family members to be in Milan.
“It’s a dream come true for me and my family as well,” Kurashev said earlier this month. “I’m excited to take it all in. I don’t really know what to expect, so I’m just going to go out there and take it day by day, and hopefully we can have a good tournament and have a lot of good times.”
REGENDA, SLOVAKIA STAY PERFECT
Sharks forward Pavol Regenda assisted Adam Ruzicka’s third-half goal as Slovakia moved to top of Group B with a 3-2 win over Italy at the Rho Arena in Milan on Friday.
In Slovakia’s power play, Ruzicka shot a goal that was stopped by Italian goalkeeper Damian Clara. Regenda collected the loose puck and tipped the pass back into the slot, where Ruzicka caught it and fired it into an empty net for most of Slovakia’s 3-1 lead at the 11:54 mark of the third period.
Regenda had two shots on net for Slovakia, which will conclude the first round against Sweden at Santagiulia Arena on Saturday at 3:10 am PT.
WENNBERG, SWEDEN IS OUT OF FINLAND
Sharks center Alex Wennberg won seven of 13 games and Sweden was beaten 4-1 by their rivals on Friday.
Finland took a 2-0 lead with first-time goals from Nikolas Matinpalo and Anton Lundell. Rasmus Dahlin got one goal back for Sweden, hitting a power play at the 4:39 mark of the second period.
But Joel Armia and Mikko Rantanen responded with goals for Finland, Rantanen’s goal, an empty netter with 35 seconds left in the third period, off former Sharks national Mikael Granlund.
