Canada Player Ratings: Redrawn forward lines get best out of stars
A frantic finish notwithstanding, Canada found all kinds of chemistry thanks to redrawn forward lines in Monday’s win over Finland. Ryan Dixon look at how each Canadian fared in punching a ticket to the 4 Nations Face-Off final.
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On a holiday Monday afternoon where a 60-minute victory over Finland would put Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the Canadians dominated their opponent for about 58 minutes and did just enough in the final two to accomplish their goal.
The Canadians got the three points required to control their own destiny — rather than, potentially, having to wait on the result of a Monday night game between Sweden and the U.S. — by jumping on the Finns early and keeping their foot to the floor.
Even if Finland’s empty-net tallies with 1:40 and 1:17 to go made things incredibly tense, Canada was able to exhale when Sidney Crosby scored an ENG for the ages to make it a 5-3 final in the first 4 Nations contest played in Boston.
The frantic finish notwithstanding, Canada — with defenceman Cale Makar back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s loss to the U.S. due to an illness — found all kinds of chemistry thanks to coach Jon Cooper’s redrawn forward lines.
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Whether you’re talking about bright lights shining at the top of the lineup — Connor McDavid opened the scoring and Nathan MacKinnon bagged a brace — or a newly constructed trio of Sam Bennett between Brad Marchand and Travis Konency smothering the Finns, the Canadians’ third contest of the event was their most cohesive.
Now, having defeated a Finnish team down several key blue-liners, Canada must be great from start to finish against a top-flight American club in Thursday’s final. Before we get there, though, here are our grades for each Canadian player against Finland.
Connor McDavid 9/10 For the second straight outing, McDavid opened the scoring for Canada. Two days ago, it was a crazy dash against the Americans; this time No. 97 picked off a brutal pass by Roope Hintz and eventually wired one by Kevin Lankinen to get the Canadians rolling.
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Brayden Point 8.5/10 The new line combos saw Point start the contest on McDavid’s wing and the Tampa Bay Lighting forward delivered with the goal that put Canada up 3-0 in the first period. Point made a smart play to stick around the net and find the loose puck after Travis Sanheim’s initial shot on a look from in close was stopped. Point could have a massive role on Thursday next to the world’s best player.
Mark Stone 7.5/10 It’s pretty clear Stone is viewed as a top-six steady hand by the Canadian staff. He played his usual, heady game beside Point and McDavid.
Nathan MacKinnon 9/10 Forty-six seconds after McDavid scored Canada’s first goal, MacKinnon got a quick break and made no mistake, beating Lankinen to the stick side. MacKinnon’s second tally of the game — and third of the tourney — was a one-timer from the slot 5:03 into the second period, giving his club a 4-0 advantage and prompting the Finns to swap Juuse Saros in for Lankinen.
Sidney Crosby 9/10 OK, it wasn’t quite the golden goal, but everybody in Canada likely leapt off their couch when Crosby — with his team suddenly defending a one-goal lead against the surging Finns — crunched Mikael Granlund right at centre ice, picked himself back up after the collision and swatted a 95-footer into the open cage to restore calm for Canada. After the game, McDavid called it “as good an empty-netter as you’re going to get.” Crosby, playing with MacKinnon and Sam Reinhart, also made a great play on MacKinnon’s goal to help turn the puck over below the Finnish line before he zinged a feed to MacKinnon in the slot.
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Sam Reinhart 8.5/10 Reinhart wound up with three assists on the night, leading Canada with three points. He made a nifty little feed to MacKinnon to send him in alone on the latter’s first tally and led all Canadian forwards with 16:17 of ice.
Brad Marchand 7.5/10 Skating in the rink where he’s spent his entire NHL career, the Bruins captain played just over 14 minutes and formed good chemistry with Sam Bennett and Travis Konecny on a trio that pestered Finland all over the ice.
Sam Bennett 7.5/10 Scratched in the tournament-opener versus Sweden, Bennett played his second straight contest, won half of the 10 draws he took and recorded a team-high four hits.
Travis Konecny 6.5/10 Drawing back into the lineup after watching on Saturday, Konecny played less (12:11) than any other Canadian skater.
Brandon Hagel 8/10 Hagel earned himself an assist by creating a turnover at centre ice on the play that eventually led to Canada’s second goal of the game. He had seven shot attempts in the game, the most of any Canadian forward.
Anthony Cirelli 5.5/10 Cirelli struggled at the dot, winning just three of his 10 face-offs.
Mitch Marner 6/10 Marner’s role was reduced from the first two games of the event. He played just 12:46 — less than every Canadian, save Konecny — but still recorded two of the three blocked shots Canadian forwards were credited with.
Cale Makar 8.5/10 Makar didn’t register a point in the win, but he sure looked like his dangerous self all afternoon long. He led Canada with 23:57 of ice time and tied Hagel for the team lead with seven shot attempts.
Devon Toews 8/10 Toews is a great player, but he definitely brings the most value being the perfect complement to Makar, his usual playing partner in Colorado. Toews’ 22:59 of ice was three minutes more than every other Canadian player, save Makar.
Josh Morrissey 5.5/10 Morrissey had a tough outing by the advanced stats, recording a team-low expected goals percentage of 14.5 per cent.
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Colton Parayko 5.5/10 As with his playing partner, Morrissey, Parayko had a poor expected goals percentage (25.6 per cent) and saw less ice time than the other five Canadian D-men.
Travis Sanheim 7/10 Sanheim was the only Canadian defenceman to register a point, as he jumped up to take a feed from McDavid and ultimately saw his rebound deposited by Point.
Drew Doughty 6.5/10 Doughty was tabbed with two defensive zone giveaways by Moneypuck and the veteran D-man, unsurprisingly, played fewer minutes than he did versus the Americans with Makar back in the lineup.
Jordan Binnington, 8/10 Don’t let the final, frenetic six-on-five minutes muddy the picture; this was Binnington’s best game of the event. He made a solid positioning save off Mikael Granlund early on before anybody had found the scoresheet. Finland could have climbed back in the game earlier if not for some strong work from the Canadian goalie, especially in the first minute of the second period when Aleksander Barkov was banging at a rebound on the lip of the crease. When all is said and done, Binnington will start every game for Canada in this tournament and will surely have a lot to say about how the decisive contest plays out.
