Team Canada takes down Austria at men’s hockey world championship
Team Canada defeated Austria 5-1 in its fourth game of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, taking place at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
Team Canada is undefeated in the tournament thus far, having notched wins against Slovenia, Latvia, and France. Canada and Austria met up in pre-tournament action, where the Canadians also won 5-1.
Marc-André Fleury, recently retired from the NHL, started between the pipes for Team Canada. The Canadians have made use of their full suite of goaltenders, which also includes Jordan Binnington and Dylan Garand, thus far in the tournament.
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It was Austria who struck first, with a goal by Vinzenz Rohrer at 11:20. Rohrer was assisted by Brian Lebler and Benjamin Baumgartner. The Canadians also dropped the first goal in their game against Latvia, which they went on to win 7-1.
The first period closed out with the Canadians down by one goal, despite outshooting the Austrians 23-4, with Austrian goaltender Florian Vorauer putting in a strong performance.
After regrouping during the intermission, Team Canada came out swinging in the second period. After Austrian Lukas Haudum took a penalty for hooking, it was assistant captain Nathan MacKinnon who struck on the powerplay to tie the game, allowing the Canadians to hear their ABBA goal song of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” for the first time. MacKinnon was assisted by Brandon Montour and Bo Horvat.
A delayed penalty saw the Canadians maintain puck possession for two minutes and 15 seconds in the offensive zone against an exhausted Austrian shift (who faced Crosby coming on as the extra attacker when Fleury left the net). That not-yet-a-power-play allowed MacKinnon to deliver his second of the period, off of a 164km slapshot that sailed past Vorauer.
The second period ended with the Canadians leading 2-1, with shots now at 33-10 in favour of the Canadians.
Travis Konecny took the Canadians up 3-1 with his third goal of the tournament, assisted by Will Cuylle and Noah Dobson. Moments later, the roles were reversed, with Cuylle scoring off of a pass from Konecny to bring the Canadians up 4-1.
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It was Captain Crosby with the final word of the game, scoring with less than two minutes left. Crosby was assisted by Horvat and fellow Nova Scotian, MacKinnon.
Unsurprisingly, MacKinnon was named Team Canada’s player of the game. The final shot total of the game was 52-16 in favour of the Canadians.
Team Canada will next face Slovakia on Saturday at 2:20 ET.