MILAN — Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Canada are rolling into the knockout round at the Olympics as the best team in the tournament.
They may have put the top seed out of the Americans’ reach.
Crosby and McDavid each had a goal and two assists in a clinical, businesslike 10-2 dismantling of France on Sunday.
“We did what we came to do,” said McDavid, who leads all scorers in Milan. “We came to win a hockey game and continue to get better.”
The blowout included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon‘s face.
MacKinnon returned and Wilson was ejected, since fighting is a game misconduct under international rules.
“He’s going to stick up for his guys,” forward Sam Bennett said of Wilson. “He’s a leader on this team and he’s a guy that’s going to protect our guys and do whatever it takes for our team.”
Canada finished round-robin play unbeaten, outscoring opponents by 17 goals over three games.
The U.S. would need to beat Germany by 10 or more goals on Sunday night to overtake Canada for the No. 1 seed. A win of any kind short of that would put the U.S. second and on a crash course to face seventh-seeded Sweden in the quarterfinals, and an unexpected regulation loss would shake up the already surprising standings.
Sweden is quite the formidable opponent, though Canada showed in the preliminary round that it has the skill, size and finishing ability to skate any other team in Milan out of the building. McDavid has nine points in his first nine periods to lead all scorers at his first Olympics, and Crosby has been great at 38, looking to go 3-for-3 in gold medals.
“Sid’s playing great,” McDavid said. “Everybody’s playing really, really well. The team’s playing well. We’re in a good place right now.”
Macklin Celebrini, Canada’s youngest player at 19, scored on a penalty shot and on the power play against France to give him four goals in three games.
Wilson, picked by coach Jon Cooper to ride shotgun on the top line on McDavid’s right wing, had a goal along with some big hits.
Mark Stone scored short-handed with 3.4 seconds left in the first period and had two assists. Brandon Hagel had Canada’s ninth goal in the third before Celebrini scored the 10th.
Canada outshot France 46-13, making life as easy as possible on goaltender Jordan Binnington, who might want the second goal back but should still be in net Wednesday in the quarterfinals, likely against Czechia or Germany.
Switzerland wins one for Kevin Fiala
Rallying around the absence of injured winger Kevin Fiala, Switzerland beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime to give itself an easy path to the quarterfinals.
Winning the preliminary round finale means captain Roman Josi‘s team will almost certainly face France or winless host Italy in the qualification playoffs Tuesday.
“We knew it was a big game,” said Josi, the Nashville Predators defenseman who scored Switzerland’s first goal by banking the puck off Radko Gudas‘ left skate and in. “Obviously a lot of ups and downs in that third period, but found a way. It was a huge win against a really good team.”
Former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan scored the overtime winner. In 172 NHL regular-season and playoff games, he had just six goals and ranked this one among the top three in his career.
“I was first thinking about passing, but [Czechia’s Radek Simek] gave me a little bit too much room,” Kukan said. “The shot from there is always dangerous.”
Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils and Pius Suter of the St. Louis Blues also scored for Switzerland, and 38-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced.
Fiala, the Los Angeles Kings‘ second-leading scorer, had surgery to repair what the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation only called a lower left leg injury. He sent his teammates a video message from his hospital bed, and coach Patrick Fischer hopes Fiala is back at the athletes’ village Monday.
“He’s still with us,” said Nico Hischier, who captains the Devils. “We’ll play for him. And obviously you hate to see an injury like that. He’s one of our best players, so it’s obviously a tough loss for us. But we know he’s still engaged with us, and he’ll cheer us on.”