Canada’s skaters have 1,060 points (402 goals, 658 assists) in 1,244 games, including three of the top four scorers in the League in Connor McDavid (96 points; 34 goals, 62 assists), Nathan MacKinnon (93 points; 40 goals, 53 assists) and Macklin Celebrini (81 points; 28 goals, 53 assists).
“I mean, listen, obviously insane power and strength over there, a lot of world’s best players over there,” Pastrnak said. “At the end of the day we’re going to have to focus on us. It’s Game 1. We’re going to try to build something toward the playoffs. We want to make sure we are ready to play, take it shift by shift. There’s been a lot of practices so it’s going to take a little bit to get the tempo, but don’t look too far. Just take it shift by shift and try to build something big.”
The Czechs believe they can, win or lose against Canada.
“They have a really good team,” goalie Lukas Dostal said, “but so do we.”
Czechia also has better goaltending, at least if you go by the numbers in the NHL this season.
The Czechs’ goaltending trio of Karel Vejmelka of the Utah Mammoth, Dostal of the Anaheim Ducks and Dan Vladar of the Philadelphia Flyers has combined for 65 wins, a 2.66 goals-against average and .901 save percentage this season, according to NHL Stats.
Canada’s trio of the St. Louis Blues’ Jordan Binnington, the Los Angeles Kings’ Darcy Kuemper and the Washington Capitals’ Logan Thompson has 41 wins, a 2.84 GAA and .894 save percentage, also according to NHL Stats.
Neither team has announced its starting goalie for the game.
“All three of our goalies are great and it really doesn’t matter who will start,” Czechia forward David Kampf said. “Hopefully one of these guys will have a great game.
“If we play like a team, doing what the coaches will ask, we have a chance.”
Even that might not be enough to win, but it could get the Czechs some of what they want out of their Olympic opener.
“Obviously, we know their offensive power and they’re going to capitalize on every mistake we make; just going to have to play a perfect game, honestly, to have a chance against them,” Pastrnak said. “Listen, we are excited to start the tournament and we just want to feel good about our game no matter win or lose. We want to make sure we’re getting ready and playing good hockey and see where it takes us.”
