Crosby grows legend for Canada in 4 Nations Face-Off opening win

MONTREAL -- The chant echoed at Bell Centre before the player of the game was announced. Everyone knew who it would be.

Sidney Crosby.

“CROS-BY! CROS-BY! CROS-BY!”

Captain Canada added to his legend Wednesday, opening the 4 Nations Face-Off with three assists in a 4-3 overtime win against Sweden.

Crosby has won 26 straight games playing for Canada.

“It’s no coincidence his record of when he’s wearing a Canadian jersey,” coach Jon Cooper said. “That’s not a fluke. He will go down as the greatest player to ever represent his country. If not, he’s going to be on the Mount Rushmore, for sure, of people that have thrown the Canadian jersey on.”

Crosby scored the Golden Goal when Canada won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, helped Canada win gold again at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and was the MVP when Canada won the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto.

And here he was at 37 rising to the occasion in the first best-on-best tournament since.

He had missed his past two games for the Pittsburgh Penguins with an upper-body injury. Some feared he would miss the tournament or at least the first game. But he jumped into action at the highest level, playing the wing instead of his usual center, and led his team.

“I’m amazed, but I’m not surprised at all,” said defenseman Drew Doughty, who also played with Crosby at both Olympics and the World Cup. “He’s a gamer, man. In big situations, he plays even better, and he did it again tonight. Yeah, he was probably the best player on the ice.”

Mario Lemieux, the legend from Montreal, read the starting lineup in Canada’s locker room. When he came to Crosby -- his former protégé in Pittsburgh -- he still called him “Sid the Kid.”

Lemieux surprised the sellout crowd of 21,205 when he appeared during the pregame ceremony. The fans roared and chanted his name.

“MAR-I-O! MAR-I-O! MAR-I-O!”

Crosby’s reception came close, though.

“I could write a book on just my time around Sidney Crosby this short little window I’ve had,” Cooper said. “I think if you were really listening what happened at the beginning of the game when everybody was announced, Mario Lemieux’s roar aside, Sidney Crosby, I mean, the roof was coming off.

“He’s been a Pittsburgh Penguin his whole life, and that just shows you how much people care about him and respect him in this country, and if I’m going to think about my top three or four moments of this, it’ll be the ovation Sidney Crosby received from this … what a crowd.”

Crosby gave the fans a did-you-see-that moment less than a minute into the game.

Canada sent out an incredible power-play unit that included Crosby and two of his heir apparents – Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon -- each of whom was finally playing for his country in a best-on-best tournament for the first time.

McDavid passed the puck from the right flank to Crosby low in the right circle. Crosby spun and sent a backhand, behind-the-back pass across the crease. MacKinnon scored into an open net at the 56-second mark, 12 seconds into the power play, giving Canada a 1-0 lead.

“Definitely a lot of adrenaline, a lot of nerves, so it was nice to get an open net early,” MacKinnon said. “Definitely settled me in.”

Canada had let a 2-0 lead slip to 2-1 when Crosby charged down the ice late in the second period. He turned his body to shield the puck from defenseman Gustav Forsling and found forward Mark Stone, who made it 3-1 at 17:28.

After Sweden came back to tie the game 3-3 in the third period, each team had chances to end it in OT, which can go as long as 10 minutes in this tournament instead of the five minutes in an NHL game.

Crosby had the puck when he noticed a teammate going for a change. He held onto it as he skated up the ice, buying time, and then dropped a pass back to forward Mitch Marner. After he made it to the bench, Marner scored the winner at 6:06.

“I think one of his really big strengths is game management through leadership and timely plays, whether it’s getting the puck deep when we are in our own zone for a while or making a big play,” goalie Jordan Binnington said. “That third goal is just a perfect example of proper game management.”

For Marner, it was a dream come true, a memory forever.

“You tell 10-year-old Mitch that he scored an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, the guy he looked up to since Day One, yeah, it’s pretty crazy,” Marner said. “I’m sure my family is going to be very excited about that one. It’s going to be a really cool thing that I get to have now.”

Even for Crosby, this was a highlight. He grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan. He lives for moments in environments like this.

“To have an ovation like that here was really special and something I’ll always remember,” he said. “… Just grateful for the opportunity to be able to play for Canada, to be able to play for this group, to still be playing, still. It’s not an easy league. You’ve got to work hard to still be playing at a high level. I think I’m grateful for all that.”

Canada is grateful too.

“No signs of slowing down,” McDavid said. “It seems like he could do this for a really long time. It’s just fun to watch. Obviously, you watch from afar, but to see him work up close and personal here this last week and for the next couple days, it’s a real treat for everyone here on this team.”