photo: Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Canada's Mark Scheifele scored the winning goal 29 seconds into overtime of a wild 6-5 game with Norway this afternoon in Fribourg. It was his third of the game, and it was a beauty.
Macklin Celebrini brought the puck in over the line, fed Evan Bouchard, who then hit Scheifele with a back-door pass. Scheifele had merely to tap it in for the win and the hatty.
"It was a wild game, but it felt good playing with Mac," Scheifele said. "He's a pretty special player, so you just try to get open as much as possible, and he's going to find you. It was great resilience by all of us."
"I'm really happy," said Norway's captain Andreas Martinsen. "To take a point against Team Canada with this lineup, some of the best players in the world, it's huge. It's a lot of fun. You play one game, anything can happen."
The game went to OT after Ryan O'Reilly tipped a Celebrini shot in with just 1:39 remaining in regulation. The duo of Celebrini and Crosby played the first two periods with Porter Martone, then Scheifele for much of the third, and then O'Reilly at the end to produce the tying goal.
It was a thrilling afternoon featuring lead changes and end-to-end action. Norway led 2-0 and 3-2, trailed 4-3, and led 5-4. Canada has now won 25 of 27 games all time in this rivalry.
"They played us hard and made us earn every inch," Scheifele added. "They were physical; they were hard on us. They got pucks to the net and got bodies there. We can learn from tonight, and that's what this tournament is all about, going through some adversity and bringing the group closer together."
"We're getting pucks to the net," Martinsen said of his team's scoring outburst today. "That's been our focus the last couple of years. We've always struggled with scoring goals, but we get traffic in front, and you never know what's going to happen. The biggest thing for us is we were able to come back, even after they scored one on our power play in the third."
The Canadians now take sole possession of first place in Group B with 12 points on a perfect 4-0 record. Norway moves into sole possession of fourth with seven points and a record of 2-0-1-1.
Canada plays again tomorrow, taking on Slovenia, while the Norwegians get a day off before facing Sweden on Saturday.
Norway got on the board first off a smart play by Eskild Bakke Olsen. He had the puck in the slot, but no Canadian went to him so he moved in and fired a shot over the blocker of Cam Talbot at 5:18.
Six minutes later, Norway struck again off a faceoff win in the Canada zone. The puck came wobbling back to Johannes Johannesen at the point and he snapped a hard but unpredictable knuckleball that beat Talbot to the glove side.
That’s when Scheifele went to work. Norway failed to get the puck out, and he managed to get a shot off as he was falling to the ice, beating Tobias Normann to the glove side at 13:30 to cut the lead to 2-1.
Four minutes later, he connected with greater velocity thanks to a perfect set-up pass in the slot form Parker Wotherspoon. Scheifele snapped a shot past Normann’s blocker to tie the game.
The only three penalties of the period went to Norway, and all were drawn by the Celebrini-Crosby-Martone line. The extra skater yielded much puck control but no goals.
Norway showed their resilience early in the second when they finally had a power play of their own. Petter Vesterheim found Noah Steen in front, and Steen tipped in the qiuck pass at 3:34 to give the Norwegians another lead.
Scheifele, however, responded on a Canada power play midway through the period. Normann stopped the Canadian’s shot, but Gabriel Vilardi pushed home the rebound at 11:57. Late in the middle period, Mikkel Eriksen had the chance of the game to give Norway another lead. He took a pass in front, went in the other direction while Talbot slid way out of his goal, but fanned on the shot as he tried to just push it into the empty cage.
Eriksen had had fewer than two minutes of ice time in the game to that point, and even he couldn’t help but laugh the laugh of the frsutrated when he saw the replay on the scoreboard.
Canada eanred its first lead of the game early in the third while playing short-handed. Johannesen bobbled the puck at the Canadian line and Dylan Cozens took contorl and raced up ice, Johannesen chasing. Cozens took the puck inside, deked Normann, and slid it into the goal just 31 seconds into the perriod.
But Norway was by no means done. They scored two quick goals off long shots, Talbot clearly struggling with high pucks. Christain Kaasastul tied the game at 8:09 on just such a point shot, reminiscent of Johannesen's goal in the first.
Then, less than two minutes later, Tinus Luc Koblar fired a simple shot on goal that fooled Talbot over the glove at 9:57. This marked the first time Norway had ever scored five goals against Canada.
Macklin Celebrini brought the puck in over the line, fed Evan Bouchard, who then hit Scheifele with a back-door pass. Scheifele had merely to tap it in for the win and the hatty.
"It was a wild game, but it felt good playing with Mac," Scheifele said. "He's a pretty special player, so you just try to get open as much as possible, and he's going to find you. It was great resilience by all of us."
"I'm really happy," said Norway's captain Andreas Martinsen. "To take a point against Team Canada with this lineup, some of the best players in the world, it's huge. It's a lot of fun. You play one game, anything can happen."
The game went to OT after Ryan O'Reilly tipped a Celebrini shot in with just 1:39 remaining in regulation. The duo of Celebrini and Crosby played the first two periods with Porter Martone, then Scheifele for much of the third, and then O'Reilly at the end to produce the tying goal.
It was a thrilling afternoon featuring lead changes and end-to-end action. Norway led 2-0 and 3-2, trailed 4-3, and led 5-4. Canada has now won 25 of 27 games all time in this rivalry.
"They played us hard and made us earn every inch," Scheifele added. "They were physical; they were hard on us. They got pucks to the net and got bodies there. We can learn from tonight, and that's what this tournament is all about, going through some adversity and bringing the group closer together."
"We're getting pucks to the net," Martinsen said of his team's scoring outburst today. "That's been our focus the last couple of years. We've always struggled with scoring goals, but we get traffic in front, and you never know what's going to happen. The biggest thing for us is we were able to come back, even after they scored one on our power play in the third."
The Canadians now take sole possession of first place in Group B with 12 points on a perfect 4-0 record. Norway moves into sole possession of fourth with seven points and a record of 2-0-1-1.
Canada plays again tomorrow, taking on Slovenia, while the Norwegians get a day off before facing Sweden on Saturday.
Norway got on the board first off a smart play by Eskild Bakke Olsen. He had the puck in the slot, but no Canadian went to him so he moved in and fired a shot over the blocker of Cam Talbot at 5:18.
Six minutes later, Norway struck again off a faceoff win in the Canada zone. The puck came wobbling back to Johannes Johannesen at the point and he snapped a hard but unpredictable knuckleball that beat Talbot to the glove side.
That’s when Scheifele went to work. Norway failed to get the puck out, and he managed to get a shot off as he was falling to the ice, beating Tobias Normann to the glove side at 13:30 to cut the lead to 2-1.
Four minutes later, he connected with greater velocity thanks to a perfect set-up pass in the slot form Parker Wotherspoon. Scheifele snapped a shot past Normann’s blocker to tie the game.
The only three penalties of the period went to Norway, and all were drawn by the Celebrini-Crosby-Martone line. The extra skater yielded much puck control but no goals.
Norway showed their resilience early in the second when they finally had a power play of their own. Petter Vesterheim found Noah Steen in front, and Steen tipped in the qiuck pass at 3:34 to give the Norwegians another lead.
Scheifele, however, responded on a Canada power play midway through the period. Normann stopped the Canadian’s shot, but Gabriel Vilardi pushed home the rebound at 11:57. Late in the middle period, Mikkel Eriksen had the chance of the game to give Norway another lead. He took a pass in front, went in the other direction while Talbot slid way out of his goal, but fanned on the shot as he tried to just push it into the empty cage.
Eriksen had had fewer than two minutes of ice time in the game to that point, and even he couldn’t help but laugh the laugh of the frsutrated when he saw the replay on the scoreboard.
Canada eanred its first lead of the game early in the third while playing short-handed. Johannesen bobbled the puck at the Canadian line and Dylan Cozens took contorl and raced up ice, Johannesen chasing. Cozens took the puck inside, deked Normann, and slid it into the goal just 31 seconds into the perriod.
But Norway was by no means done. They scored two quick goals off long shots, Talbot clearly struggling with high pucks. Christain Kaasastul tied the game at 8:09 on just such a point shot, reminiscent of Johannesen's goal in the first.
Then, less than two minutes later, Tinus Luc Koblar fired a simple shot on goal that fooled Talbot over the glove at 9:57. This marked the first time Norway had ever scored five goals against Canada.
Canada vs Norway - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
OF