MONTREAL — Sidney Crosby got a sellout crowd roaring with a no-look pass to Nathan MacKinnon for a slam dunk power-play goal in the first minute. Then he sent Canada fans home happy by assisting on Mitch Marner‘s overtime winner.
Sid’s not a kid anymore, but he showed he’s still got it at 37, getting three assists to beat Sweden 4-3 on Wednesday night in a thrilling opener of the 4 Nations Face-Off. It was just the latest masterclass by Crosby, a two-time Olympic champion who brought his best to the return of elite international competition featuring the NHL’s top players.
“It’s no coincidence is record of when he’s wearing a Canadian jersey,” coach Jon Cooper said. “It’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.”
“As someone who loves to play in environments like that, I grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan, and to have an ovation like that here was really special and something I’ll always remember,” Crosby said.
Crosby and Connor McDavid were among the top skaters on the ice throughout. McDavid picked up the secondary assist on MacKinnon’s goal and was buzzing all over around Swedish defenders.
Brad Marchand also scored for Canada to incite cheers at the home arena of the Canadiens, where the Boston Bruins captain is far more used to being the villain. Of course there were a few boos when his name was announced, too, to keep with tradition.
And Marner, also usually not loved in Montreal because he plays for the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, got to bask in cheers — and the fact that his childhood idol set up the biggest goal of his career.
“You tell 13-year-old Mitch that he scored an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, the guy he looked up to since day one, it’s pretty crazy,” Marner said. “I really just tried to enjoy the moment after. The building was rocking, and it was nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me.”
Canada at times controlled the play, but goaltender Jordan Binnington struggled at times. Binnington, who had 23 saves, was beaten clean in the second by Jonas Brodin and in the third by Adrian Kempe. He was less at fault on the tying goal to Joel Eriksson Ek with 11 minutes left in regulation and made a spectacular sliding save to deny Mika Zibanejad early in overtime.
Sweden got some big saves in net from Filip Gustavsson, who stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced and denied MacKinnon four times in OT in a hard-luck loss for the Swedes.
“In overtime there, he had some really good saves, even the whole game,” Brodin said. “He’s an unbelievable goalie and happy for him. He was great for us.”
Winning the first of three round-robin games did come at a cost for Canada, which lost defenseman Shea Theodore to a right wrist or forearm injury in the second period. Cooper said Theodore is out for the rest of the tournament, and Travis Sanheim figures to slot in after being a healthy scratch against Sweden.
That Canada was able to play the remainder of a game that lasted over 65 minutes down to five D-men was a testament to the others at the position.
“In a game like that at that pace, having five defensemen up and down the ice, I can’t say enough about what those guys did right till the end,” Binnington said. “It’s really tough to see Shea go down like that, but it happened and sometimes things happen like that and it’s how you handle it.”
The United States faces Finland in each team’s first 4 Nations game on Thursday night.
BALTIMORE — Journalism won the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, coming from behind down the stretch to make good on the lofty expectations of being the odds-on favorite in the middle leg of the Triple Crown two weeks after finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby.
Finishing first in a field of nine horses that did not include Sovereignty but featured some of the best competition in the country, Journalism gave trainer Michael McCarthy his second Preakness victory. It is Umberto Rispoli’s first in a Triple Crown race, and he is the first jockey from Italy to win one of them.
Gosger was second by a half-length after getting passed by Journalism just before the wire. Sandman was third and Goal Oriented fourth. Journalism went 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.37.
Journalism thrived on a warm day that dried out the track after torrential rain fell at Pimlico Race Course for much of the past week. Those conditions suited him better than the slop at Churchill Downs in the Derby.
Sovereignty did not take part after his owners and trainer Bill Mott decided to skip the Preakness, citing the two-week turnaround, and aimed for the Belmont on June 7. That made this a fifth time in seven years that the Preakness, for various reasons, was contested without a Triple Crown bid at stake.
But Journalism staked his claim for 3-year-old horse of the year by winning the $2 million American classic race run at the old Pimlico Race Course for the last time before it’s torn down and rebuilt. The Preakness is set to be held at nearby Laurel Park, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., next year before a planned return to the new Pimlico in 2027.
Journalism is the first horse to win the Preakness after running in the Kentucky Derby since Mark Casse-trained War of Will in 2019. Only two others from the 19 in the Derby participated in the Preakness: Casse’s Sandman and fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas’ American Promise.
Lukas, the 89-year-old who has saddled the most horses in Preakness history, referred to McCarthy once this week as “the new guy.” This was just McCarthy’s second, and he’s 2 for 2 after Rombauer sprung the upset as an 11-1 long shot in 2021.
The Minnesota Twins are on a roll. They extended their winning streak to 11 games Thursday with a 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles that completed a series sweep. Their confidence carried over to social media, too, as they trolled the Orioles.
Minnesota used a three-run third inning to propel itself to victory, with home runs from DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Byron Buxton.
The Twins hold the longest win streak in MLB; its their their longest run of victories since winning 12 straight from April 22 to May 4 last season, according to ESPN Research. The franchise record is 15 set in 1991.
Minnesota poked fun at Baltimore’s namesake with a post after the game, referring to the Orioles also being known as the “O’s” — and swapping a zero in for the O.
Campbell worked out at first before Friday night’s series opener against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora addressed the situation when he spoke to reporters before the game.
“Looking for options,” Cora told reporters. “Obviously, we’re getting Romy [Gonzalez] probably at the end of the week, early next week, but just introduce him to first base and see how he looks. That’s where we’re at.”
Casas ruptured the tendon in his left knee while running to first base during a game against the Minnesota Twins earlier this month. His replacement at first, Gonzalez, was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a left quad contusion last week.
One potential replacement, star slugger Rafael Devers, said after Casas went down that he would not be open to moving to first after he went from third base to designated hitter during spring training to make room for Alex Bregman.
Campbell, one of baseball’s top prospects, broke camp with the big league team and has been its primary second baseman through the start of the season. He has also played in the outfield and at shortstop and third base in his career, but never first.
Asked what he would need to see for Campbell to be a realistic option at first for his team, Cora added: “The process started, right? It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months. But we started the process and introduced him to first.”