Canada will ride or die with Binnington, as Makar returns

BOSTON — Canada will ride or die with Jordan Binnington.

And, according to head coach Jon Cooper, the decision to give the 2019 Stanley Cup champ a third consecutive start was easy.

“Listen, the kid’s played great for us. He’s given us a chance to win. And ultimately, in the NHL, if you can limit an opponent into two goals or less, it should give you a chance to win. And he’s done that for us,” Cooper said Monday morning, ahead of his team’s must-win tilt versus Finland.

Binnington (1-1) has posted the second-best goals-against average in the 4 Nations Face-Off (2.41), but both goals he surrendered in Saturday’s epic loss to Team USA he regretted.

That said, Canada’s ultra-stacked forward group has managed only five goals all tournament and failed to crack the packed-in U.S. defence or Connor Hellebuyck.

“It was lack of goal scoring that hurt us. But I think the one thing that’s underappreciated about Jordan is his gamesmanship and his ability to play the puck,” Cooper continued.

“In all our clean breakouts and exits the other night, he was the one who started it, and hence why he (got) a point in the game, because he’s the one that starts the (Connor) McDavid breakaway.

“We got to give him a little run support.”

Generating scoring chances will be worlds easier because ailing Cale Makar is back in the lineup.

“Well, he’s the best defenceman in the world, so that’s quite an impact,” partner Devon Toews said. “I know Cale so well, and he’s going to do everything he can to play. And, unfortunately, we didn’t have him last game.

“That’s a huge impact on the game. A huge driver of the puck from the back end, just moving the puck and skating it and creating offence from the back end.”

if (!res.ok) { throw new Error('Failed to fetch odds data'); }

const data = await res.json(); const oddsData = data?.data?.game?.details?.current_line; const visitingTeam = data?.data?.game?.visiting_team; const visitingTeamLogo = data?.data?.game?.visiting_team?.image_url_90; const homeTeam = data?.data?.game?.home_team; const homeTeamLogo = data?.data?.game?.home_team?.image_url_90; const gameTimestamp = data?.data?.game?.details?.timestamp;

return { oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp }; }

async function renderBetMGM(componentId, league, gameId) { let oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp, error;

const container = document.getElementById(componentId + '-odds'); if (!container) return;

try { ({ oddsData, visitingTeam, visitingTeamLogo, homeTeam, homeTeamLogo, gameTimestamp } = await fetchOddsData(league, gameId)); } catch (err) { error = err.message; }

if (error) { container.innerHTML = `

Error: ${error}

`; return; }

if (!oddsData) { container.innerHTML = `

Odds data not available

`; return; }

let gameDate = new Date(gameTimestamp * 1000); const gameDateFormatted = gameDate.toLocaleDateString('en-US', { year: 'numeric', month: 'long', day: 'numeric' });

container.innerHTML = `

BetMGM Odds

${gameDateFormatted}

VS

Moneyline

${visitingTeam.short_name}

${oddsData.away_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.away_money}` : oddsData.away_money}

${homeTeam.short_name}

${oddsData.home_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.home_money}` : oddsData.home_money}

Spread

${oddsData.fav_id === visitingTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_points : oddsData.fav_points > 0 ? `-${oddsData.fav_points}` : `+${Math.abs(oddsData.fav_points)}`}

${oddsData.fav_id === visitingTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.fav_money}` : oddsData.fav_money : oddsData.underdog_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.underdog_money}` : oddsData.underdog_money}

${oddsData.fav_id === homeTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_points : oddsData.fav_points > 0 ? `-${oddsData.fav_points}` : `+${Math.abs(oddsData.fav_points)}`}

${oddsData.fav_id === homeTeam.id ? oddsData.fav_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.fav_money}` : oddsData.fav_money : oddsData.underdog_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.underdog_money}` : oddsData.underdog_money}

Over/Under

O ${oddsData.total}

${oddsData.over_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.over_money}` : oddsData.over_money}

U ${oddsData.total}

${oddsData.under_money > 0 ? `+${oddsData.under_money}` : oddsData.under_money}

Powered by

${gameDateFormatted}

VS

Powered by

`; }

// Example usage renderBetMGM('block_d28c285901828eac740ca95865ea8116', '4nationsfaceoff', '135c3c0e-2819-46cd-8af7-36f87d96a489');

As for the front end, Cooper subtracted fourth-liner Seth Jarvis and reinserted a rested Travis Konecny to the lineup.

A regulation win for either Canada or Finland will guarantee a spot in Thursday’s final versus Team USA.

An overtime decision opens the door for Sweden and suddenly adds meaning to Monday’s night game.

Would Cooper dare pull his goaltender if this must-win is tied late to secure the three points?

“Yes, everything’s been thought about, trust me,” Cooper said, smiling. “I’ll have a rolling list out there on the bench. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.”

Toews admitted that fans have yet to see Canada’s true identity emerge in this sprint of a tournament.

“It’s hard when you put 20 guys on the ice that really haven’t played much together, and when you have three games here to figure it out. To try to make a final, you got to find things quick,” Toews said. “Just need to do a better job of generating more offence.

“We’re ready. It’s a must-win for us if we want to see playing. Do-or-die against really good team. So, it’ll be fun.”