Will Canada’s latest Olympic comeback set the stage for Crosby’s comeback?

MILAN – In the hours leading up to Canada’s semifinal game at the Olympics, it remained unclear whether Sidney Crosby would be able to play.

“We heard he was [going to play],” said winger Tom Wilson. “We heard he wasn’t. And then we were on the cab ride over and our team services guys was kind of, like, keeping it quiet and we’re like, ‘Wait, we don’t even get to know?’ We heard last minute.”

Crosby did not suit up against Finland on Friday, but Canada rallied around their injured captain to win 3-2.

“Every guy who laced up their skates wanted to make him proud,” Wilson said. “You know he’s watching. You want to give it all for him.”

Crosby, who left Wednesday’s quarterfinal game after suffering a lower-body injury, skated on Friday morning in a session that was closed to the media. Will the 38-year-old centre be available for Sunday’s championship game against the United States?

“We have 48 hours to decide that,” said coach Jon Cooper. “But I will tell you he’s got a better chance of playing in the gold-medal game than he had of playing in tonight’s game.”

Crosby did not play on Friday, but still managed to play a role in the win.

“He was in the room, which was cool,” Wilson revealed. “Guys were leaning on him in the intermission, talking to him about what he could see from up top.”

“He’s so bright,” said winger Brad Marchand. “Such a presence for our group and so smart with the way he sees the game. He was definitely giving us pointers.”

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Crosby watched as his close friend and fellow Nova Scotian Nathan MacKinnon scored the game-winning goal in the final minute. Was MacKinnon motivated to give Crosby another shot at gold?

“It’s a cherry on top of getting the win,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re playing for our country, the logo, and that’s all the motivation I need to try and play my best.”

MacKinnon, who missed Canada’s last two practices due to an undisclosed issue, hammered a one-timer past Juuse Saros just as a power play expired.

“That’s what he does,” said Marchand, another Nova Scotia native. “He’s one of the most intense people I’ve ever met and driven. His dedication to the game and to getting better and being the best, it really is impressive. You have to be able to see it to understand how dialled in he is and the sacrifices he makes. It’s all to build for moments like this. When the pressure’s the highest, when the moments are the biggest, he wants to be the guy to be the difference maker and take over.”

MacKinnon also drew the high-sticking penalty on defenceman Niko Mikkola, which put Canada on the man advantage late in the third period.

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Connor McDavid, who wore the ‘C’ for Canada with Crosby out, set up MacKinnon’s goal with a beautiful seam pass.

“How the play started was Davo,” said defenceman Cale Makar. “He faked me out. I thought he was coming to me up top and then threw it right across the seam to Nate for a one-T. I think that deception really opened that up. They’re so good together. I just try to facilitate and put the puck in their hands and see what happens.”

McDavid finished the night with two assists and is up to 13 points in Milan, which is a new single Olympic tournament record in the NHL era. The previous record was shared by Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu, who both had 11 points in helping Finland win the silver medal at the Turin Olympics in 2006.

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Selanne did not like the call on Mikkola.

“Beating greatest hockey country in the world and Canadian referees same night is impossible I guess,” the Hall of Famer wrote in a post on X. “Absolutely embarrassing penalty 90 seconds to go in Olympic semifinal.. what a joke.”

Finland coach Antti Pennanen was asked about both referees in the game – Dan O’Rourke and Eric Furlatt – being Canadian.

“It is what it is,” he said. “We played against a really good team. They deserved to win.”

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Canada tied the game on another controversial call earlier in the third period. Marchand got tangled up with Erik Haula and made contact with Saros moments before defenceman Shea Theodore scored.

Was it goalie interference?

“Yeah, obviously,” Saros said. “He’s laying on top of me so that’s why I can’t get up, but it is what it is.”

“Brad’s being Brad and I like that Brad,” Cooper said with a smile. “But Marchy was out [of the crease] ... He was trying to get out and he got pushed back in. I had no question the call was going to be made the way it was.”

Finland did not challenge the play.

“It was good call,” said Pennanen. “Of course tight situation, but I’m pretty sure it was good call.”

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With Canada trailing 2-0 on Friday, Cooper decided to load up his top line once again with MacKinnon replacing Wilson beside McDavid and Macklin Celebrini.

Wilson ended up joining forces with Marchand and Bennett. Cooper credited that trio for turning the tide.

“Everything is not always about what you put in the net and how many scoring chances you have,” Cooper noted. “Some of it is about intimidation, leaning on teams, making them think, making them tired and setting up shifts for the next group and that’s what that line was fabulous for.”

The chemistry flowed almost immediately between three guys who all like to play the game with an edge.

“We know what we have to do,” Bennett said. “Nothing needs to be said.”

“We didn’t have to say much to each other,” said Wilson. “When we got put together it was predictable. We weren’t guessing about what the other guy was going to do. It was to go out there and have controlled chaos and make lives difficult on the other team and just push them out of the game.”

Before the Olympics started, Wilson, Bennett and Marchand actually game planned for this exact situation.

“Funny enough, we actually talked about it before the tournament that we hoped we got a chance to play together,” Bennett said. “We all play similar games, but we all have different attributes. We definitely talked about hopefully getting a chance.”

“We always felt like we would connect well,” Marchand said with a smile. “It’s nice not having to worry about those two guys taking my head off.”

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Canada fell behind in the first period after Bennett fired a shot on net and then pushed Panthers teammate Mikkola into Saros at the end of a play leading to a goalie interference call. Mikko Rantanen scored just two seconds into the ensuing power play.

“You don’t want to be in the box ever especially in a game like this,” Bennett said. “So my mindset was just go out there, play hard, and go help our team win.”

Finland extended the lead to 2-0 when Haula scored on a shorthanded breakaway.

“We stayed calm,” said MacKinnon. “The whole bench was pretty mellow. Obviously it sucks, we don’t want to be losing, but that’s the reality. We felt we were kind of taking over the game in the second period. We were playing really well.”

Shots were even at eight in the first period, but Canada outshot Finland 14-3 in the second and 17-6 in the third.

“I just loved how relentless we became,” Cooper said. “There wasn’t a worry on the bench.”

Canada clawed a goal back on a second period power play when Sam Reinhart deflected a Makar shot in.

“Cale is the best at gaining space and taking his ice in the offensive zone,” said Reinhart, who started the game as the 13th forward but maintained his spot on the top power-play unit. “When he shoots it that hard from the top of the circle a lot of it is just instincts and being in the right spot.”

Finland appeared to go into a defensive shell down the stretch in an attempt to make the 2-1 lead stand up.

“It’s hard not to,” said Finnish forward Teuvo Teravainen. “They’re pushing, they’re coming and you don’t want to make mistakes and you want to not give them 3-on-2s and that sort of stuff and game goes that way.”

Canada drew confidence from their late comeback win in the quarterfinals. Canada trailed Czechia 3-2 until Nick Suzuki scored to tie it with 3:27 left in the third period. Mitch Marner scored early in overtime to send Canada to the semifinals.

“This one was a lot less anxiety than the last one,” said defenceman Drew Doughty. “This one it really felt it was going to happen. The last one, the clock was clicking down a little too low.”

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Have these last two games been too close for comfort?

“No, this was building character and this is why we play the game, these big moments like this,” Doughty said. “We knew it was going to be a tough road. All the previous ones were tough roads. It’s not easy. It’s the Olympics.”

And now Doughty gets a chance to win a third gold medal. What’s it mean to be back in the championship game on this stage?

“It means the world to me,” the 36-year-old said. “It means the absolute world to me.”

If Crosby is unable to play on Sunday, Doughty will be the only Canadian player with previous experience in a gold-medal game at this level.

“Ah, s--t, I mean, the pressure’s there,” he recalled of the gold medal wins in 2010 and 2014. “At the same time you don’t just treat it like another game. I don’t want to say that. But once you touch the ice, ah, you just gotta focus on doing your job and that’s all it is. You can’t think of the outcome. You can’t think of those types of things. Just go out there and play.”

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Canada’s practice on Saturday will be closed to the media.

Canada also closed a previous practice in Milan before the tournament began. General manager Doug Armstrong had promised it wouldn’t happen again, but Crosby’s situation appears to have changed things.