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MILAN — Even when he couldn't be in the lineup because his right leg had buckled in ways legs shouldn't, Sidney Crosby made a difference for Canada.
With the quarterfinal against Czechia tied after two periods, Crosby addressed his teammates. The gist of the message? Go get 'em.
Canada did. Mitch Marner scored 1:22 into overtime to seal a 4-3 victory, sending Canada to the semifinals on Feb. 20 at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Whether the lineup will include Crosby is unknown; Canada coach Jon Cooper did not have an update immediately after the game.
Crosby was hurt on a hit by Radko Gudas, and also absorbed a hit from Martin Necas in the second period.
"He couldn't come out for the third," Cooper said. "But he did address the players, and I think that was a big thing coming in is, that we lose this game − we didn't want this to be Sid's last game at this Olympics"
The injury didn't look good, with Crosby's legs separated at unnatural angles. He was still being evaluated after the game.
"You hate seeing it, right? He's a heart and soul guy," Mark Stone said. "He leads by example. I'm glad we were able to get the win for him."
Macklin Celebrini, who scored the first goal and assisted on goals by Nathan MacKinnon and Marner's, called it "a weight lifted off our shoulders" to see the puck go in in overtime, especially after losing Crosby.
"He's the leader, captain, heart and soul of our team," Celebrini said. "He's a guy that everyone looks to, so for him to go down, it was tough. But I think we did a good job kind of rallying and staying on the gas."
The Czechs were playing for the second time in 24 hours while Canada, having won group play, had been off for two days. But Canada is also the No. 1 seed at the tournament, while the Czechs looked loose, like they were playing with house money.
Lukas Sedlak and David Pastrnak scored in the first period to make it 2-1 Czechia going into the second period. MacKinnon scored an equalizer. The third period thrilled, especially when Ondrej Palat finished a nice pass from Necas to put Czechia up by a goal with 7:42 to go.
There was only 3:27 left to play when Nick Suzuki tipped Devon Toews' shot to tie the game.
"I wanted to do something to help the team, so it was a big goal to tie it up and send it to overtime," Suzuki said.
Cooper said players on the bench are, "like super comfortable being uncomfortable and that's what it is. It was calm. Everybody had complete faith in whoever was going over the boards. It just felt like it was a matter of time."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sidney Crosby helps Canada rally at Olympics despite injury
Continue reading...
With the quarterfinal against Czechia tied after two periods, Crosby addressed his teammates. The gist of the message? Go get 'em.
Canada did. Mitch Marner scored 1:22 into overtime to seal a 4-3 victory, sending Canada to the semifinals on Feb. 20 at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Whether the lineup will include Crosby is unknown; Canada coach Jon Cooper did not have an update immediately after the game.
Crosby was hurt on a hit by Radko Gudas, and also absorbed a hit from Martin Necas in the second period.
"He couldn't come out for the third," Cooper said. "But he did address the players, and I think that was a big thing coming in is, that we lose this game − we didn't want this to be Sid's last game at this Olympics"
The injury didn't look good, with Crosby's legs separated at unnatural angles. He was still being evaluated after the game.
"You hate seeing it, right? He's a heart and soul guy," Mark Stone said. "He leads by example. I'm glad we were able to get the win for him."
Macklin Celebrini, who scored the first goal and assisted on goals by Nathan MacKinnon and Marner's, called it "a weight lifted off our shoulders" to see the puck go in in overtime, especially after losing Crosby.
"He's the leader, captain, heart and soul of our team," Celebrini said. "He's a guy that everyone looks to, so for him to go down, it was tough. But I think we did a good job kind of rallying and staying on the gas."
The Czechs were playing for the second time in 24 hours while Canada, having won group play, had been off for two days. But Canada is also the No. 1 seed at the tournament, while the Czechs looked loose, like they were playing with house money.
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Lukas Sedlak and David Pastrnak scored in the first period to make it 2-1 Czechia going into the second period. MacKinnon scored an equalizer. The third period thrilled, especially when Ondrej Palat finished a nice pass from Necas to put Czechia up by a goal with 7:42 to go.
There was only 3:27 left to play when Nick Suzuki tipped Devon Toews' shot to tie the game.
"I wanted to do something to help the team, so it was a big goal to tie it up and send it to overtime," Suzuki said.
Cooper said players on the bench are, "like super comfortable being uncomfortable and that's what it is. It was calm. Everybody had complete faith in whoever was going over the boards. It just felt like it was a matter of time."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sidney Crosby helps Canada rally at Olympics despite injury
Continue reading...
