Players on Team Canada are ready to “make it work,” says the brightest of the squad’s stars as they practised together for the first time Monday before the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid told media following Canada’s first training session together in suburban Montreal that the star-studded lineup is “trying to get a little bit of a base down (to see) how it’s going to feel out there together” before they play Sweden on Wednesday to open the National Hockey League-organized tournament of all-star teams that also includes the United States, Sweden and Finland.
“Everybody just assumes it’s going to work, (but) that’s not necessarily the case,” said McDavid, a three-time NHL most-valuable players and five-time scoring champ.
“You saw a little bit of the power play come together today, working at it after practice. It takes a lot of work, and you got to it’s got to come together real fast.
“But we’ll make it work.”
McDavid skated on a forward line alongside wingers Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers and Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, while veteran Canadian Olympic legend Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins lined up with Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights.
McDavid said he and his teammates “feel good about our group” but that “anybody can, really, win it.”
Wednesday’s 4 Nations Face-Off-opening Canada-Sweden game will be followed by three more games in Montreal – U.S. vs. Finland on Thursday, then a doubleheader on Saturday with Sweden vs. Finland and Canada vs. the U.S. – before the tournament moves to Boston for three more contests capped by the championship game on Feb. 20.
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McDavid’s Oilers teammates Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson are suiting up for Sweden.
“It’s four great teams; four really, really high end teams,” McDavid said.
“It’s going to be about who can peak at the right time. It’s a quick tournament. As I said, you’ve got to come together quick, and we’re hoping to do that.”
