Top line leads Team Canada to win over Switzerland

Two games, two wins for Team Canada’s men’s hockey team at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Macklin Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon both netted their second goals of the tournament while Connor McDavid, Thomas Harley and Sidney Crosby also scored to lead Canada to a 5-1 win over Switzerland at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Goaltender Logan Thompson, making his first Olympic start, made 24 saves in the victory.

Canada is now 2-0 after defeating Czechia 5-0 in their tournament opener, already securing top spot in Group A. The team will play their final game of the preliminary round on Sunday at 10:40 a.m. against France, who fell to 0-2 with a 6-3 loss to Czechia on Sunday.

Canada made a few lineup changes for Friday’s game. Along with Thompson starting in net in place of Jordan Binnington, Travis Sanheim took Josh Morrissey‘s spot on the backend while Seth Jarvis replaced Brad Marchand up front.

This is the first Olympic Games featuring National Hockey League players since Sochi 2014. Three of the NHL’s leading scorers–McDavid, MacKinnon and Celebrini–found themselves playing on a line together for much of this game and the combination proved to be successful. Both McDavid and MacKinnon recorded a goal and two assists while Celebrini had a goal and an assist.

The game got off to a quick start with Canada hitting a post early. When play came the other way, Nino Niederreiter had an equally great chance to open the scoring, only to be stopped by Thompson on his deke.

Canada went to the power play at 5:25 when Dean Kukan was called for a trip on Sam Bennett. 20 seconds into the man advantage, MacKinnon made a perfect feed to McDavid who scored his first Olympic goal to make it 1-0.

READ: Team Canada defeats Czechia to open Olympic men’s hockey tournament

Shortly after, Crosby had a breakaway but his backhander was stopped by an outstretched Akira Schmid in the Swiss net.

Harley made it 2-0 Canada at 10:54. Tom Wilson carried the puck into the offensive zone before finding McDavid. McDavid then found a wide open Harley who beat Schmid to double Canada’s lead.

Switzerland went to a power play at 12:42 and got on the board. A Sven Andrighetto shot went off the crossbar and bounced in front where Pius Suter found the puck and beat Thompson, cutting Canada’s lead to 2-1.

Shortly after Canada killed off a Shea Theodore penalty, Celebrini scored his second of the Games to restore Canada’s two-goal lead at 4:14 of the middle frame. MacKinnon found the loose puck down low and found Celebrini in front, ripping a low shot past Schmid.

READ: 25 men’s hockey players nominated to Team Canada for Milano Cortina 2026

Canada had a couple of power play opportunities in the second period, including one late where a Celebrini shot went off the post. Canada outshot the Swiss 14-6 in the frame.

Crosby gave Canada a 4-1 lead at 7:28 of the third. Mitch Marner made a hard pass down low to Crosby who redirected the puck past Schmid. Crosby now has a goal in all three Olympic Winter Games he has participated in.

Shortly after Canada killed off a penalty, McDavid drove to the net with the puck and MacKinnon finished off the play, scoring to give the Canadians a 5-1 advantage at 13:03.

Preliminary round play in the men’s hockey tournament concludes on Sunday. The qualifying round will be held Tuesday followed by the quarterfinals on Wednesday and semifinals on Friday. The bronze medal match will be held next Saturday followed by the gold medal game on Sunday.

Canada is in Group A along with France, Switzerland and Czechia. Group B features Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Italy while Group C includes the United States, Germany, Latvia and Denmark.