Biggest goal of Suzuki’s life revives Canada in win over Czechia

BROSSARD, Que. — Nick Suzuki was 55 seconds into what was shaping up to be his last shift of a devastating loss when he flashed in front of Lukas Dostal and scored the biggest goal of his life.

Suzuki manufactured it out of thin air, taking on four members of Team Czechia on his own to get the puck deep and keep it there. 

He beat Filip Hronek out of the corner to give the puck to Seth Jarvis, and then he beat Hronek to the net to tip home Devon Toews’ wide point shot with 3:27 to go to tie the game 3-3.

Take your hearts out of your throats, Canada. 

Suzuki’s had to be beating out of his chest after riding the roller-coaster he’d been on since the Olympic tournament got under way in Milan. 

He was at his best in Game 1, dangerous with the puck and perfectly placed without it, a persistent threat at one end of the ice and a neutralizer at the other end of it, as efficient at five-on-five as he was on the penalty kill, versatile enough to do it all from the wing rather than his natural position at centre, with a goal notched to punctuate Canada’s 5-0 win over Czechia.

But had he been better through the next two wins over Switzerland and France, he’d have not been the subject of national debate revolving around who would come out of the lineup for Brad Marchand in Wednesday’s quarterfinal rematch with Czechia.

Suzuki’s Montreal Canadiens teammate, Brendan Gallagher, had a premonition Tuesday that Canada would benefit from keeping him in.

“I would say they’re going to start playing elimination games, some games that are a little bit more important, and I think you’re going to see Suzy at his best,” Gallagher said. “He’s been playing just fine. He’s been doing exactly what he’s been asked to do. They have some special talent on that team that are scoring goals, but Suz can do a lot of things. He can win faceoffs, he can kill penalties, be very difficult to play against, his details are going to be strong, especially as they get into elimination games. I think people will start to realize how important a player he is.”

If they didn’t earlier in the tournament, the likely did when Sidney Crosby left the game favouring his right leg early in the second period.

That’s when Suzuki jumped from the fourth line to the second, between Mitch Marner and Mark Stone.

From there, he clanked his best scoring chance of the tournament past the gaping net and into the far post, missing Canada’s best look at a lead after Nathan MacKinnon tied the game 2-2.

Doubt could’ve overwhelmed Suzuki and Marner when they were two of five Canadians counterpunched on the play Ondrej Palat finished to put Czechia up 3-2 with 7:42 to go in regulation. 

But if it sunk in right then and there for the rest of the nation, it didn’t for Suzuki and Marner, with the former tying the game before the latter won it 1:22 into overtime with a backhand that kissed the top corner of Dostal’s net.

“We just stayed with our program, stayed with just pushing,” Marner said to Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas after the game, “and that was a massive tip by Nick.”

The captain of the Canadiens has scored 169 goals over his NHL career, including two in the Stanley Cup Final and 11 more in the playoffs. 

But this one for Canada saved himself and his teammates from an Olympic nightmare.

It wasn’t Suzuki’s only contribution to this classic Canadian comeback. He played 14:16, pulled back key face-offs in his own zone while his teammates struggled to win them against Czechia’s Tomas Hertl, David Kampf and Lucas Sedlak, and just kept pushing from different parts of the lineup.

It’s what Suzuki was brought to Milan to do — to bring the versatility that saw him score 33 goals and 102 points and post a plus-41 through the 83 games played between the end of the 4 Nations Face-off and the beginning of the Olympics.

“I feel like if you asked Nick, I think Nick expects himself to be there, and he’s progressed and he’s been on that path of being one of those guys,” said 2014 gold medallist with Canada and Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis on Tuesday.

Suzuki had to be feeling fortunate to continue being one of those guys, following two games played beneath his standard.

Reigning Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett looked on from the stands.

He and the rest of the country held their breath as Jordan Binnington kept Team Canada a shot away from surviving.

Suzuki tipped it to score the biggest goal of his life.