Early lead slips away with national hockey legends on hand for electric atmosphere in Montreal

Canada Post USA

MONTREAL — There was an ear-shattering crowd like no other and a moment of Connor McDavid magic Saturday, all with Canadian hockey dignitaries like Paul Henderson, Mark Messier, Ken Dryden and Carey Price in the house.

It had all the makings of one of those special Canadian hockey moments that could be forever etched in the minds of crazed fans from coast to coast

Until it wasn’t.

Instead, this night belonged to the visiting Americans, whose deserved 3-1 victory has left Canada with their backs against the wall in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The formula is simple. Canada must beat Finland in regulation at TD Garden in Boston on Monday (1 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS) to punch its ticket to the event’s final three days later where a rematch with the United States looms.

Bring it on, McDavid said.

“It’s kind of like a Game 7,” the forward said. “A lot of guys in this room have been in that situation before.

“Got to get a win.”

Coach Jon Cooper couldn’t agree more.

“He’s absolutely right,” Cooper said. “I mean, this is a short tournament and this is our Game 7.

“I’ll tell you this. As a coach, this was our second game. So now we’re seeing some things and we’ll look after the technical side. But it doesn’t matter who you are, if it was Scotty Bowman or name the coach, it doesn’t work unless you have a team that cares. And that test we passed tonight. We have a team that cares.

“The result is unfortunate. But I don’t think anybody can leave the building and say that that team didn’t stick up for each other or care for each other and play with a passion. And when you do have that, the ceiling is limitless, what the team can do. And so in that regard, I’m extremely proud of the guys. Now it’s on us here to tweak some things and find a way to beat Finland.”

Why is Canada in this position? Simple. They failed to get a regulation win in two attempts at the raucous Bell Centre, and must now take their show on the road.

And they need only look in the mirror to see how they got here.

Consider how much they had going for them in their first two games, a 4-3 overtime victory against Sweden Wednesday followed by the defeat to the United States.

They had not lost to the U.S. in best-on-best competition since the preliminary round of the Vancouver Olympics on Feb. 21, 2010. They’d also gone 26-0 with Sidney Crosby in the lineup in tournament play since that defeat.

Then there was the atmosphere Saturday, which was as electric as any you’ll find in hockey, if not more. The cheering of Canada and jeering of the U.S. began the moment both teams stepped on the ice for warmups and only intensified from there.

It became truly deafening when U.S. forward Matthew Tkachuk and Canadian forward Brandon Hagel dropped the gloves two seconds into the game, followed by Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett a second later.

And when McDavid then produced one of those patented McDavid moments only he can do with a spectacular breakaway goal at 5:31 of the first period to put Canada up 1-0, it produced “The Roar Heard ‘Round Canada.”

But the Americans systematically siphoned the energy out of the building the rest of the evening, thanks to a combination of crushing bodychecks, a brilliant defensive gameplan that smothered any time and space the Canadians may have looked to exploit, and timely goals by Jake Guentzel in the first period, Dylan Larkin in the second and Guentzel into an empty net in the third.

“Yeah, the first one, it’s tough, he just snuck it five-hole there,” Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington said. “And then the second one, 2-on-1, you want to make that save too.

“That’s how the game goes. I competed and I battled hard.”

Maybe so. Nevertheless, in both of Canada’s games, they’ve jumped into the lead in the first six minutes of play and eventually found themselves coughing up the lead instead of riding the momentum.

Canada was missing three defensemen who were on the original 23-man roster that was selected in early December. Alex Pietrangelo pulled himself out several weeks ago to allow an unspecified ailment to heal. Then came the loss of Shea Theodore for the remainder of the tournament due to an upper-body injury suffered against Sweden.

On Saturday, Canada was forced to play without its top defenseman, Cale Makar, who was out due to illness. Thomas Harley of the Dallas Stars replaced him in the lineup and accounted well for himself.

“I can’t say what the outlook is right now,” Cooper said when asked about Makar. “Naturally, he was close to playing in tonight’s game. But ultimately the decision was made for him not to play. And those decisions are made for the benefit of the player. Everybody wants to play and contribute and do all these things. And trust me, he’s the one that wants to do it the most. But it wasn’t tonight.

“And so we’ll see. Hopefully Monday. But there’s no determination on that yet.”

Whether Makar plays or not, Canada can play better. More importantly, they need to play better.

According to Bennett, they’ll do exactly that.

“It’s the greatest rivalry in hockey, and they got us tonight,” Bennett said. “I mean, we’re not going to look ahead to a (rematch).

“But obviously, we want them again.”