In the lead-up to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, Canada's goaltending situation became a hot topic. The closer the team got to facing Team Czechia in its opening game, the more intense the conversation became.
Head coach Jon Cooper, though, never seemed caught up in the noise. When asked after Thursday's 5–0 win about the timing of his decision to start Jordan Binnington in Milan, his response made one thing obvious: he had never second-guessed the choice.
“Well, probably about 358 days ago,” Cooper said, referencing Binnington's performance at the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he led Canada to a championship.
Binnington rewarded Cooper's confidence with a stellar outing, stopping 26 shots to earn a shutout. Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nick Suzuki scored the goals for Canada. Celebrini, the 19-year-old center for the San Jose Sharks, became the first teenager to score a game-winning goal in an Olympics featuring NHL players, tipping in a Cale Makar shot with 5.7 seconds left in the first period. Connor McDavid recorded three assists, while captain Sidney Crosby and Thomas Harley each contributed two assists.
Considering Binnington's 8-17-6 record along with a .864 save percentage and a league-low -13.68 5v5 GSAx among goalies with at least 30 starts, the choice was not without risk. Even so, Cooper's decision to stick with him paid off. Binnington improved to 4-1-0 in best-on-best tournaments involving NHL players, including three consecutive wins.
Team Canada controlled the action from the start, as Binnington denied David Kampf and David Pastrnak to keep the game scoreless in the first period until Celebrini's late first-period goal. Stone added a second goal at 6:40 of the second period, assisted by teammate Mitch Marner, and Horvat made it 3-0 at 17:26. MacKinnon scored on a power play in the third period, finishing a passing sequence with McDavid and Crosby, and Suzuki scored the game's final goal at 15:23.
Canada defenceman Josh Morrissey left the game in the second period and did not return, resulting in Shea Theodore joining Colton Parayko on the second pairing.
Chasing a third straight Olympic gold with NHL talent, Team Canada is expected to start Logan Thompson at the crease for Friday's game against Switzerland.
