McDavid plays trick on Norway
Well-rested captain nets three goals in blowout, Finland test on deck
Behind the net or falling to the ice, it doesn’t matter to Connor McDavid. Canada’s captain is a threat to score no matter where he gets the puck.
McDavid had a hat trick while Curtis McElhinney and Darcy Kuemper shared the shutout as Canada beat Norway 5-0 in Group B action Thursday at the world hockey championship.
Bo Horvat added his first two goals of the tournament to round out the scoring.
Canada’s next opponent on Saturday is Finland, currently one point back in third place.
After opening the round-robin portion of their schedule with three games in four days, Canada’s players looked rested and energized against Norway after two days off — none more so than McDavid.
Canada’s captain walked out from behind the net before firing high over the blocker of Norway goaltender Lars Haugen to open the scoring just 1:23 into the first period.
McDavid added his second of the night as he shot the puck over Haugen’s stick as he fell to the ice at the right faceoff dot with 4:19 left in the first period, then completed his hat trick before the game was half over, roofing the puck over a sprawled Haugen at 8:51 of the second period.
“His first two goals tonight were pretty impressive,” said defenceman Colton Parayko, who assisted on McDavid’s first and third markers and is now tied for the tournament scoring lead among defencemen with five points. “(McDavid) kind of scores falling down on the second one; the first one he just finds the open space.
“He just seems to find the spaces and he takes advantage of it. That’s what good players do.”
“He’s a guy who can get his own shot and he knows when our team needs to be picked up,” added coach Bill Peters, who has seen McDavid’s game grow since he coached him to a gold medal with Canada at the 2016 world championship in Russia.
Horvat scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 12:49 of the first while McDavid was serving a high-sticking penalty, then from in close off a pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois at 2:24 of the third.
McElhinney made nine saves in 48:12 of action before leaving. Kuemper stepped in to finish the game and officially recorded one save in his first action since Canada opened its tour- nament with a 5-4 shootout loss to the United States.
“I want to keep everybody sharp and everybody involved,” said Peters about making the change in net. “We talked about doing it after 40 (minutes). We waited a little longer.
“Kuemps made a big save and then he made a real good play on a goalie touch, up to the left winger, bypassing the forecheck.
McDavid now leads Canada with four goals and six assists and is tied for third place overall in scoring in the tournament. In just four games, he has already surpassed his production from the 2016 world championship, when he had one goal and nine points in 10 games.