Nick Suzuki relegated to defensive role in (another) Canadian win

Félix Forget
Nick Suzuki relegated to defensive role in (another) Canadian win
Credit: Screenshot/Twitter

After taking on the Czech Republic yesterday morning, Canada's men's hockey team was back in action this afternoon, this time facing Switzerland.

Seth Jarvis, Travis Sanheim, and Logan Thompson played their first game of the tournament, while Brad Marchand, Josh Morrissey (injured), and Jordan Binnington were given the day off.

Here's how Canada lined up:

For Switzerland, Akira Schmid was in goal for the club, which is relying on Roman Josi, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier, among others.

Oh, and habs legend Sven Andrighetto.

In the first period, Canada found itself with a powerplay… and the club's war machine struck.

Connor McDavid scored with assists from Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar: it's enough to make you dream.

Then, a few minutes later, McDavid made his mark as a passer.

Thomas Harley took advantage of the opportunity, scoring his team's second goal.

However, Switzerland responded shortly after, taking advantage of a powerplay.

Pius Suter found the back of the net… and Andrighetto picked up a point on the play.

After 20 minutes, the score was 2-1 in favor of Canada.

In the second period, Jon Cooper decided to put Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Macklin Celebrini together on the same line.

And they wasted no time in combining their efforts.

The rest of the second period was quieter. After 40 minutes, the score was 3-1 in Canada's favor.

In the third period, Switzerland put in a strong effort to try to get back into the game, even putting Canada in a precarious position in the opening minutes of the period.

But Jon Cooper's men held strong… and Sidney Crosby added a goal to his team's tally after the storm.

Then, a few minutes later, the MacKinnon-McDavid-Celebrini line struck again, with MacKinnon capitalizing on a rebound to score his team's fifth goal.

All three forwards earned a point on the goal.

It should be noted that at the end of the game, Kevin Fiala was checked by Tom Wilson, and the Kings forward was unable to get up. He appeared to be seriously injured in his left leg and had to be stretchered off the ice.

Players from both teams rushed onto the ice to support Fiala.

Final score: 5-1 Canada

With today's victory, Canada is guaranteed to finish first in its group.It was expected, of course, but now it's official.

Canada will return to action on Sunday morning when it faces France.The game will start at 10:40 a.m.


Overtime

– Nick Suzuki didn't have a great game. He started the game on Nathan MacKinnon's wing and ended up playing center with Tom Wilson… and we even saw him play a more defensive role late in the game, particularly during penalty kills. I'm curious to see where he'll be placed for Sunday's game.

– Connor McDavid, a… tough guy?

– Logan Thompson wasn't bad, but he looked a bit shaky in front of the net at times.He did nothing to steal the #1 goalie spot from Jordan Binnington today.

– Nothing less.

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