Canada overwhelms France to finish perfect in group stage

Connor McDavid, sir philip sidney bing crosby and deutsche mark lapidate had a end and two assists each as Canada thumped France 10-2 on Sunday to finish with a perfect record in the preliminary round of the men's hockey tournament at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Crosby's three points gave him 16 for his Olympic career, eclipsing the Canadian NHL-era record of 14 previously held by Jarome Iginla, whose final Games came in 2010 in Vancouver.

Macklin Celebrini added two goals and an assist. Cale Makar and Tom Wilson — both with a goal and an assist — Devon Toews, Bo Horvat and Brandon Hagel also scored for the Canadians (3-0-0-0), who now await their quarterfinal opponent following Tuesday's eight-team qualification playoff. Jordan Binnington had to make just 11 saves.

Wilson was also ejected after fighting Pierre Crinon in the third period after the French defender delivered a forearm to the face of Nathan MacKinnon.

McDavid's three points give him nine across nine periods in the superstar centre's Olympic debut.

Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu share the record for points in a tournament involving NHLers with 11, which they both set at the 2006 event in Turin, Italy.

Floran Douay and Sacha Treille replied for the French (0-0-0-3). Julian Junca allowed six goals on 33 shots in two periods of work. Antoine Keller made three saves in the third. Justin Addamo had two assists.

France's roster featured Montreal Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier along with former NHLers Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Stephane Da Costa.

Canada blows out France to finish atop Group A

Canada, which has a plus-17 goal difference, opened the tournament with Thursday's 5-0 victory over Czechia before securing a 5-1 triumph against Switzerland on Friday to clinch first in Group A ahead of the meeting with France.

Switzerland (1-1-1-0) picked up a 4-3 overtime victory against Czechia (1-0-1-1) earlier Sunday to grab second in the group.

Injured defenceman Josh Morrissey (undisclosed) again sat out for Canada, while Brad Marchand was scratched for a second straight game up front, despite head coach Jon Cooper's assertion Friday night that he would be back in against the French.

The red-clad Canadians were on the front foot early, but France held strong before Wilson buried a rebound off Drew Doughty's point shot at 8:41.

The French — with plenty of support inside Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, including chants of "Allez les Bleus" that rang around the 11,600-seat venue before puck drop — replied just 13 seconds later when Canadian defenceman Colton Parayko turned the puck over, and they didn't box out Douay on a big Binnington rebound.

Canada, which will play in the quarters Wednesday and owns the No. 1 seed in the elimination round barring a 10-goal victory for the United States against Germany later Sunday, retook the lead at 9:31 when Toews received a pass from Crosby on a 3-on-1 and wired his shot upstairs.

France went to the man advantage late in the period, looking to head to the locker rooms even, but Stone made it 3-1 when he stole the puck on the penalty kill and chipped a cheeky breakaway backhand past Junca with 3.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

Hagel hit the post on an odd-man rush in the second, but Makar made it 4-1 on Canada's lethal power play off a McDavid pass at 12:10.

Celebrini was hauled down on a breakaway at 17:16 and made no mistake on the ensuing penalty shot.

Macklin Celebrini scores a penalty shot goal against France

Crosby stretched the lead to 6-1 just 19 seconds later when his attempted pass to Mitch Marner went off a French defender and slid past a helpless Junca, who made several big saves, in a period that saw his overmatched teammates register a solitary shot at the other end.

Keller's first shot against in the third was a McDavid breakaway, and he slid home for his ninth point.

Treille then blasted France's first attempt on target of the period past Binnington on a shot the netminder would probably want back at 1:28.

Horvat made it 8-2 at 5:14 on a rebound, and Hagel scored at 10:46 before Celebrini rounded out the scoring on a power play at 11:47.

Crinon, who was whistled for interference for that forearm to MacKinnon's earlier in the period, then dropped the gloves with Wilson on his next shift, which resulted in both players getting ejected under International Ice Hockey Federation rules.

Sunday marked the first anniversary of Canada and the U.S. Fighting three times in nine seconds at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which was an NHL-run event.

The league went to five Olympics between 1998 and 2014. The league skipped the 2018 Games for financial reasons before COVID-19 shelved a planned return four years later.

Canada won gold in 2002, 2010 and 2014 with its men's stars.

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