Connor McDavid had three points in Canada's 5-1 win over Switzerland on Friday.Fabrizio Troccoli
If there was one overarching lesson Canada learned from the 4 Nations Face-Off last year, it’s that the pace of best-on-best hockey is nothing like the NHL – it’s considerably faster.
Players told stories of their legs shaking on the bench during that tournament. The tempo was accelerated, the play was relentless, and there was minimal time for players to react, not to mention catch their breath.
Head coach Jon Cooper came away from that tournament with a calculation. Whatever minutes Canada’s stars typically logged in the NHL had to be dialled back commensurate to the intensity.
“The elite of the elite that are used to playing 23 or 24 minutes in the NHL – 18 was their max because of the pace of the game was so high,” Cooper said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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McDavid celebrates after scoring his first Olympic goal.Hassan Ammar/The Associated Press
Against the Swiss on Friday, in Canada’s second game at the Milan Cortina Olympics, that kind of bench management was on full display.
Canada defeated the Swiss 5-1 in a game that was fast-paced, and more physical than Canada’s opening 5-0 win over Czechia the night before.
With Cooper’s strategy, stars that are used to playing north of 20 minutes a night in the NHL must do more with less in terms of ice time.
No one has risen to that challenge more than Connor McDavid.
Though McDavid is playing fewer minutes than he does in Edmonton, you would never know it. His production is as all-world as ever.
He is everywhere for Canada – scoring, playmaking and, to the surprise of his teammates, dishing out devastating hits.
During the first period against the Swiss, McDavid flattened defenceman Andrea Glauser behind the net, crumpling him to the ice. Glauser left the game and did not return.
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One day earlier, in Canada’s 5-0 win over Czechia, McDavid set the tone early by driving Czech defenceman Lukas Sedlak into the end boards in the first period. It was such a thundering hit that Brad Marchand congratulated power forward Tom Wilson for it when he got back to the bench.
“I didn’t hit anybody. That was Connor,” Wilson said to Marchand’s disbelief.
Sidney Crosby said after the win that McDavid’s play so far has sent a strong message to the team.
“We want to play physical and when he’s leading the way in that category, I think we all notice. So I think that shows how badly he wants it,” Crosby said.
“When you see him stepping up that way, everyone’s got to follow, there’s no choice.”
Beyond his uncharacteristic physicality, McDavid has otherwise been doing McDavid things while playing limited minutes by his standards.
McDavid is averaging 23:07 minutes a game in Edmonton this season. In the opener against Czechia, he played just 18:04, but had three assists.
On Friday his ice time was even lower, finishing with just 14:22.
He finished the game with three points. The record for most points by an NHL player in an Olympics is 11. Two games in, McDavid already has six.
Logan Thompson makes a save.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images
With many of Canada’s players having played together at the 4 Nations tournament last year, McDavid said the team has been able to get off to a quick start in Milan.
“That familiarity from the 4 Nations helps,” McDavid said. “A little bit of that carry-over, understanding what the coaching staff’s asking from us.”
The only thing McDavid wasn’t doing against the Swiss was playing net. That job went to Logan Thompson, after opening-game starter Jordan Binnington was given the night off after blanking Czechia 5-0 on Thursday.
Thompson’s unlikely rise to the NHL after going undrafted, then playing for Brock University in 2018 and climbing his way through the minor leagues, is one of the most remarkable stories on Team Canada’s roster.
Seven years ago, he was playing for Brock University. Now Logan Thompson is on Team Canada
McDavid put Canada on the board just over six minutes into the game. With Canada on the power play, Nathan MacKinnon got the puck on the side boards, with Cale Makar at the point, and Crosby on the nearside goal line.
As the Swiss defence gravitated to both open players, MacKinnon fired a bullet of a pass through the slot to McDavid, who stickhandled twice and shot the puck past Swiss goaltender Akira Schmid, putting Canada up 1-0.
With just over nine minutes to go in the first period, McDavid then lifted a saucer pass across the ice to Canadian defenceman Thomas Harley, who took a few strides toward the net and snapped the puck past Schmid, putting Canada up by two.
The Swiss responded a few minutes later. With Bo Horvat, one of Canada’s best penalty killers in the penalty box, Sven Andrighetto’s shot glanced off Thompson’s glove and then the crossbar, then onto the stick of Pius Suter who shovelled it in, cutting Canada’s lead to one.
Switzerland's Roman Josi checks Canada's Tom Wilson.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The game was a physical affair. At one point, Timo Meier put McDavid on the receiving end of a thundering hit, which elicited a roar from the strong contingent of Swiss fans in attendance.
Late in the second period, 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini scored his second goal of the tournament, putting Canada up 3-1.
After a McDavid centring attempt was blocked, MacKinnon picked up the loose puck and got it to Celebrini in front of the net, who one-timed the puck past Schmid.
There was no assist for McDavid on the play, but it was yet another Canadian attack he led.
Canada made it 4-1 with 12:32 to go in the third period, when Mitch Marner sent a pass through traffic to Crosby, who tipped it into the net.
Late in the third period, MacKinnon made it 5-1 on assists from McDavid and Celebrini.
After the game, Cooper praised the Swiss, saying he thought the game was closer than the score indicated.
“I don’t read a ton into the score. That game was probably closer than 5-1,” Cooper said.
“The job is to keep getting better.”
Unbeaten so far, and having scored 10 goals while allowing just one in their first two games, Canada plays France on Sunday.
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