The Canadian men's Olympic hockey team will play for gold after a heart-stopping 3-2 comeback win against Finland in a semifinal matchup that had fans sweating. Canada and the United States battle for gold in men's hockey at 8:10 a.m. ET. The two teams have only faced each other in the Olympic final twice in the years NHLers have taken part. Canada won both times. A big question hangs over today's game: Will Sidney Crosby be in the lineup?
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, which included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon's face.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Sidney Crosby has been named captain of Canada's men's hockey team at the Milan Cortina Games. The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar captained Canada to a gold medal the last time NHL players participated in the Olympics at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. Four years earlier, he scored the "golden goal" in overtime as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in the Vancouver 2010 final.
When Bogdan Trineyev took the ice at Canada Life Centre, he became the 89th player from the 2020 NHL Draft and just the second Washington Capitals player from that draft year - Hendrix Lapierre is the other - to play in an NHL game. But "Bogdan Crosby" accomplished something even rarer with the jersey number he was assigned, which has mostly fallen out of circulation as one of the greatest players in NHL history inches closer to the end of his career.
Many around the league were prepared for Crosby trade talk to become its own cottage industry in 2025-26, as the Pittsburgh Penguins star center sought a return to the Stanley Cup playoffs on another team. Alas, the Penguins might end up being Crosby's playoff team, having amassed a .625 points percentage through 28 games and holding down a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. If they're playing meaningful games this season, Crosby isn't going anywhere -- if he ever was in the first place.
In comments to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun on Monday, Crosby's agent Pat Brisson didn't just acknowledge the "reality" of trade speculation. Brisson admitted a trade is a "possibility." "I mean, I'm answering something that ... let's put it this way, it's always a possibility, you know?" Brisson said. "It's been three years they haven't made the playoffs. It all depends on how Sid is going to be and how the team is going to do.