MacKinnon, McDavid each has 3 points, Canada tops Switzerland to win Group A

MILAN -- Maybe poking the bear is not a great idea.

Team Canada flexed its hockey muscles for a second straight night at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, dominating Team Switzerland 5-1 at Santagiulia Arena on Friday. With the victory in the preliminary round, Canada won Group A, earned a bye into the quarterfinals and showed again why it is the favorite to win the gold medal.

“Teams are coming at us hard and we’re wearing teams out as it goes along,” center Nathan MacKinnon said. “We have crazy depth, we have great goaltending, great D, so it’s been good.”

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Canada-Switzerland

The newly formed line of MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini -- three of the top four scorers in the NHL this season -- wreaked havoc on Switzerland, combining for eight points (three goals, five assists).

MacKinnon and McDavid each had a goal and two assists, and Celebrini had two points, including his second goal in as many games.

“I mean, three really good players,” McDavid said. “Obviously, Nate’s one of the best players in the world and he thinks at such a high level and plays at such a high speed. And I can do that and ‘Mack’ can do that, too. We found a way to get a couple there and that’s fun to be a part of.”

Thomas Harley and Sidney Crosby also scored, and Logan Thompson made 24 saves for Canada (2-0-0-0), which will play Team France in the preliminary round finale for both teams Sunday (10:40 a.m.; Peacock, USA, ICI Télé, CBC Gem, RDS2, CBC).

Pius Suter scored, and Akira Schmid made 34 saves for Switzerland (1-0-1-0).

“I think for a lot of parts of the game we were right there,” Switzerland forward Timo Meier said. “They capitalized on their chances. They get a quick goal on the power play that obviously fueled their top guys and got them into the game, and that’s tough.”

The Swiss will complete the preliminary round against Team Czechia on Sunday (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, CNBC, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Gem, SN, RDS), with the winner of that game possibly getting a bye as well.

The three group winners and the next-best team record-wise will move to the quarterfinals, with the other eight teams starting the single-elimination qualifying playoff Tuesday.

Switzerland may have to play that game and perhaps the rest of the Olympics without forward Kevin Fiala, who left the ice on a stretcher with 2:50 left in the third period after he got tangled up along the boards with Canada forward Tom Wilson.

“Stuff like that is hard to watch,” Switzerland forward Nico Hischier said. “Obviously Kevin is a big part of our group. I hope it’s better than it looked, but we obviously wish Kevin the best.”

Switzerland coach Patrick Fischer said Fiala went to the hospital and that the injury “didn’t look good.”

The crowd was largely made of Switzerland fans, with the border about an hour from Milan. Perhaps feeling a bit confident after forward Nino Niederreiter said this week that he and his teammates were there to “poke the bear” when they played Canada, they were loud and boisterous and seemed to give the Swiss players a jump.

“They have a good team,” MacKinnon said, “So it’s not an easy game. They’re ready to go. This is almost a home country for them. It was a competitive first period.”

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

But Canada jumped out to an early lead with two goals involving McDavid, who had three assists in Canada’s 5-0 win against Team Czechia on Thursday.

With Canada on the power play, McDavid took a slick cross-ice pass from MacKinnon and fired a wrist shot from the right face-off circle off Schmid’s hip and into the goal to make it 1-0 at 5:45.

Canada then made it 2-0 at 10:54. McDavid took a pass from Wilson and found Harley all alone in the center of the ice, where the defenseman beat Schmid five-hole.

With his six points (one goal, five assists) in two games, McDavid became the first player to have five or more points through his first two career Olympic games involving NHL players.

Switzerland made it 2-1 at 12:42 by converting on its first power play of the game. Sven Andrighetto fired a one-timer that Thompson tried to glove, but the puck went off his wrist, hit the crossbar and fell to the feet of Suter, who banged the rebound home.

With Celebrini now on the line with MacKinnon and McDavid, the 19-year-old pushed the lead to 3-1 at 4:14 of the second period, taking a no-look, backhand pass from MacKinnon and one-timing it past Schmid from the left circle.

It was their first shift together.

“We’re a deep team no matter how [coach Jon Cooper] puts the lines,” McDavid said. “We’re going to be a deep team that rolls four (lines), and it just gives us a little bit of a different look.

“Sometimes it’s good to just get thrown into action like that, and when you score your first shift together, it usually helps, and everything after that is just gravy. It was fun.”

Crosby scored his first goal of the 2026 Olympics by redirecting a hard pass from Mitch Marner to make it 4-1 at 7:28 of the third.

MacKinnon made it 5-1 when he, McDavid and Celebrini combined again for a goal at 13:03.

“They were a test,” Cooper said. “I loved that we jumped out to that lead but they pushed us and I thought [Thompson] was there to make some big saves for us to give us the chance to extend.

“But ultimately it was a back-to-back against two good countries and we wanted this, we want to give ourselves a chance to advance if we don't have to play in the qualification game, and we've given ourselves a chance.

“Just win one more and we're in good shape."

NOTES: Celebrini became the third teenager to score a goal in consecutive games in Olympic involving NHL players, joining Olli Määttä (for Finland in 2014) and Evgeni Malkin (for Russia in 2006). … Canada has won 12 straight games in Olympics featuring NHL players. … Suter’s goal was the first allowed by Canada in an Olympics with NHL players since the quarterfinal round in 2014, a span of 237:01.