Canada vs. Finland (10:40 a.m. ET, Friday)
There’s an obvious starting point for this section: Crosby. Canada hasn’t played a best-on-best game without him since 2006, which is the last time they didn’t win it all (and one of just two times Canada has failed to win an Olympic medal when the NHL has sent its players). He’s capable of making a difference just as a leader off the ice, but his absence on the ice would be a massive blow.
“Sid is by no means ruled out of the tournament,” said head coach Jon Cooper on Thursday. “I can speak on [Josh] Morrissey, the same boat. And we are not going to put anybody in harm’s way, but if [Crosby] can play, he will, and we will know more in 24 hours. He’s not been ruled out.”
After Crosby went down, coach Jon Cooper ditched the initial spread-the-wealth plan and loaded up the top line, elevating Macklin Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon to play with Connor McDavid. Celebrini scored his tournament-leading fifth goal on Wednesday, McDavid tied Teemu Selanne’s record for most points in one Olympics (in half as many games) and MacKinnon delivered a timely power-play tally.
Canada’s power play has unsurprisingly been spectacular, and Celebrini is a worthy replacement for Crosby on the top unit. Their 77.78 percent penalty kill rate is a bit underwhelming, though. Finland’s power play hasn’t been great (20 percent, tied for eighth), but they have enough talent to make Canada pay if they parade to the penalty box.
If Crosby doesn’t play, Canada will need some players to step up, especially if they stack their first line again. It’s been a disappointing tournament for Sam Reinhart, the team’s only forward to play all four games and not score a goal. He has just one assist after serving as one of the driving forces of the back-to-back Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers. It hasn’t been much better for his Panthers teammates Brad Marchand (one assist in three games) or Sam Bennett (one assist in two games). Bennett missed Wednesday’s game due to illness, but Canada will need him healthy if Crosby can’t go.
The goaltending matchup will be interesting to see play out. Neither Canada’s Jordan Binnington nor Finland’s Juuse Saros have had great seasons in the NHL. Both have put up great numbers on Milan, though – a .922 save percentage for Binnington and a .936 mark for Saros. Binnington’s stats weren’t great against Czechia, but he didn’t allow any bad goals and made some key saves late in regulation and in overtime.
