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Connor McDavid’s three-assist game launches Canada over Czechia in Olympics opener: Recap, Reaction, and Highlights
Team Canada Olympics Connor McDavid
Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Zach Laing
Feb 12, 2026, 13:30 ESTUpdated: Feb 12, 2026, 13:33 EST
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Connor McDavid has been waiting his entire life for this moment.
Representing Canada on the international Olympic stage, a chance to be “pulling on that sweater, being in a room with the different generations of great players,” as he said in his Players’ Tribune piece last week, is something that’s taken far too long to happen.
But on Thursday, when Team Canada’s men’s hockey team kicked off its 2026 Olympic round-robin tournament against Czechia, McDavid didn’t disappoint. The Edmonton Oilers captain led the charge for the Canadians, posting three assists and six shots on goal in his country’s dominant 5-0 win.
It wasn’t just in his offensive production, either, as McDavid set the tempo early for his country. On his first shift of the game, he flew into the offensive zone, laying a bit hit on Czechia forward Lukas Sedlak, in what might’ve been the biggest hit he’s laid in his career.
He didn’t stop with just the physicality, as McDavid’s first point of the night came with seconds left in the first period, picking up a second assist on a Macklin Celebrini goal that was tipped in off a Cale Makar point shot.
Canada would continue to press in the second period, with Mark Stone and Bo Horvat extending Canada’s lead to 3-0.
13 minutes into the third period, with Canada on the power play after a Dominik Kubalik interference penalty, they got to work. Sidney Crosby dropped a pass to McDavid, who positioned himself to the side of Czechia goaltender Lukas Dostal’s crease, holding the puck and floating a pass to Nathan MacKinnon for the easy tap in.
McDavid’s third assist of the night came with seven minutes left in the game. Along the half wall he took a pass from Thomas Harley, walking down the wall towards the goal line. Nick Suzuki, meanwhile, positioned himself in front of the net all alone as McDavid pulled both Czechia defenders to him, putting a half-shot, half-pass on Suzuki’s stick for the tip in.

Takeaways…

  • McDavid looks primed for a big performance at these Olympics. He was dominant in all three zones, playing 18 minutes and four seconds. He’s seemed to have found some early chemistry with Macklin Celebrini and Tom Wilson as his linemates and it’ll be worth keeping an eye on if that sticks.
  • Further to McDavid’s dominance, he created 14 scoring chances in the game, according to Dimitri Filipovic. The entire Czechia team generated 12.
  • Canadian defenceman Josh Morrissey played just 7:10 TOI in the game before leaving with an undisclosed injury, and head coach Jon Cooper didn’t have an update after the game. Shea Theodore is expected to step into a bigger role, with Travis Sanheim dressing as the seventh defenceman, according to Daily Faceoff.
  • McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers teammates Leon Draisaitl and Josh Samanski kick off Germany’s Olympic schedule this afternoon at 1:10 PM MT.
  • Canada is back in action Friday afternoon, taking on Switzerland at 1:10 PM MT. The Swiss opened their tournament early Thursday morning with a 5-0 win over France, who Canada will face Sunday morning.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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