Team Canada advanced to the Olympic semifinals after Mitch Marner scored a stunning backhand overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over Czechia in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
Marner dangled through three Czech defenders before roofing a backhand shot top corner 1:22 into overtime. The goal capped a dramatic comeback after Canada trailed twice during regulation.
Nick Suzuki forced overtime with a deflection goal at 16:33 of the third period.
Canada’s semifinal opponent will be determined following Wednesday’s final quarterfinal matchup.
The team fell behind early when David Pastrnak scored on the power play late in the first period. It marked the first time Canada had trailed in the entire tournament.
It was also the first time Canada trailed in a best-on-best Olympic game since 2010.
Macklin Celebrini opened the scoring for Canada with his tournament-leading fifth goal off a pass from Connor McDavid. Lukas Sedlak responded for Czechia after a Canadian turnover, finishing a passing play with Roman Cervenka and Radko Gudas.
Nathan MacKinnon tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal that hit the post and went in during Canada’s dominant second period. McDavid recorded an assist on the play for his 12th point of the tournament.
That’s the most points ever recorded in an Olympics featuring NHL players.
Ondrej Palat gave Czechia a 3-2 lead in the third period, beating Jordan Binnington blocker side on an odd-man rush.
Binnington stopped 21 of 24 shots in the victory. He made a game-saving stop on Martin Necas during a breakaway in the final minutes of regulation.
Lukas Dostal made 37 saves for Czechia.
Sidney Crosby left the game midway through the second period after taking a hard hit from Gudas. The captain was favoring his right leg and did not return.
Head coach Jon Cooper didn’t provide an update on Crosby’s status for Friday’s semifinal.
