Todd: Habs' Nick Suzuki scores one for the ages to save Canada's bacon
He was here. He was there. He was on one line and then another, and sometimes he wasn’t there at all.
Until Sidney Crosby went down in the second period Wednesday, it was so bad that I thought maybe coach Jon Cooper (whose day job is coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning) was trying to get inside the head of the Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki in case the two teams meet in the playoffs.
But when Team Canada needed someone to save the bacon, Suzuki was in front of the net for the deflection, as nifty a bit of hand-eye co-ordination as you’re likely to see.
NICK SUZUKI TIES IT FOR CANADA 🚨
3-3
Deep breaths. Watch here: https://t.co/oTy7mwM1Un pic.twitter.com/emDJJdQgUI— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 18, 2026
If you’ve just flown in from Irkutsk, here’s the situation that will pass into hockey lore. Team Canada, the juggernaut that buzzed through the preliminary round like a wolf inhaling a steak, fell behind Czechia, 3-2, with a bit less than eight minutes to play in their quarterfinal tussle.
With time ticking down toward the three-minute mark and Canada running out of rope, Suzuki skated the puck along the boards and chased it into the Czech zone as his linemates behind him skated off for an oddly timed change. He absorbed a hit from Filip Hronek along the boards, but kept battling and got the puck out to Seth Jarvis, who found Devon Toews for the slap shot from the blue line.
That shot was headed three feet wide until Suzuki got his stick on it. One quick deflection and it was past Czechia’s Lukas Dostal to make it 3-3. Bacon saved — and a measure of redemption for Suzuki, who had hit the post with a semi-open net in the second period.
Suzuki’s heroics set the stage for Mitch Marner’s winner in overtime, much as Jonathan Toews set the stage for Crosby in the final in 2010. Marner skated in on a 1-on-3 and beat Dostal for the winner. Understandably, Marner (the kind of player the Maple Leafs could use) got most of the praise afterward, but the coach had kind words for the Habs’ captain.
“When the country needed a goal, Nick Suzuki answered,”
.
Meanwhile, play-by-play announcer Chris Cuthbert credited the Suzuki goal to the “support players,” a phrase that will make Canadiens fans gag.
It’s hardly the first time Suzuki has been underestimated. Because he didn’t burst on the league like Macklin Celebrini or Connor McDavid, Suzuki has steadily built his stardom from year to year, going as unnoticed as a player can when he’s captain of the sport’s most legendary franchise. He’s humble, he’s self-effacing and he deflects credit to his teammates much as he deflected that tying goal into the net.
But make no mistake: Whether Cooper himself recognizes it or not, Suzuki is a player you want out there when the game is on the line.
Ironically, if not for the injury to Crosby, Suzuki might not have gotten his chance. Ironic because, apart from the gaudy numbers Crosby has put up in the past, they’re much alike. Quiet, observant, hard-working, humble — born captains both.
Crosby has headed down the tunnel after taking two tough hits in the 2nd
Watch live: https://t.co/sK1B7suMWn pic.twitter.com/UZzuCblDjZ— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 18, 2026
When Suzuki stepped up, his team was in a position it was not supposed to be in. Canada had romped over the Czechs in the preliminary round, 5-0. Fresh off a 10-2 win over France, Cooper’s team looked unbeatable.
They weren’t. We’ve seen this before: a Canadian team stocked with NHL stars crumbling in the glare of the Olympic lights. We saw it in Nagano when a team chosen by Philadelphia GM and notorious leg-breaker Bobby Clarke struggled with Eric Lindros as captain and was ousted in a memorable shootout by the team from Czechoslovakia in an all-time great goaltender duel between Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek.
We saw the most glaring example in Torino 20 years ago, when a team put together by Wayne Gretzky came completely undone and somehow managed to lose all three games it played in the smaller of the two hockey arenas without scoring a single goal.
That was the year Canada elected to leave 18-year-old Crosby home. If you want to know how that might have played out, see the way San Jose’s Celebrini has been playing in Milan. Even Celebrini, however, was not able to get that crucial goal when Canada needed it most.
Enter Suzuki, on the biggest stage of his career, making a play for the ages. As of this writing, there is no word on Crosby’s availability for the semifinal. Crosby was injured in a collision with Czech defender Radko Gudas, who has injured a few players in his time, but appeared innocent on this occasion.
If Crosby can’t return, much of the focus in the build-up to the next game will be on Suzuki. He can handle it. He may be quiet and he may give you the impression that he’s more comfortable out of the spotlight but when the moment comes, he’s ready — as he was in Milan Wednesday.
No one in Montreal would be surprised. We’ve been watching this amazing young man for a good long while now.
