TORONTO -- Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby picked up exactly where he left off last spring when he was hoisting the Stanley Cup as captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins: dominating.
Crosby was a one-man wrecking crew as host Canada opened the World Cup of Hockey on Saturday with an emphatic 6-0 victory over the Czech Republic. Sure, the three points on a goal and two assists were an impressive way for the defending playoff MVP from last June's Stanley Cup run to kick off his season, but as is almost always the case with Crosby, it's the little things -- the attention to detail -- that paint the true picture.
And on this night the picture was a pleasing one for Canadian fans.
After being stymied on an early breakaway, Crosby banked home the first goal of the game off Czech goalie Michal Neuvirth from the goal line. Later, he added an assist on a goal by Brad Marchand off a faceoff win by Patrice Bergeron that put me in mind of an overtime goal he drew up in the Stanley Cup finals against the San Jose Sharks.
As per usual with Crosby, few things in the game happen by chance.
In the final minute of the first period, Crosby sped back down the ice to break up a Czech 2-on-1 and then, even though he didn't get credit for an assist, ran some interference in the Czech zone, setting up a Bergeron goal with 0.7 seconds left in the first period to give the Canadians an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
For good measure, Crosby added another pretty assist on a Joe Thornton goal early in the second.
Saturday's dominating win made it clear that whoever is going to knock off Canada in this tournament is going to have to find a way to negate the Bergeron-Crosby-Marchand line that has been together since the moment Canada opened training camp.
In fact, head coach Mike Babcock penciled in the offensive trio months before Team Canada ever took to the ice, looking to put an end to the backstory that has been part of the past two Olympic Games: Whom will Crosby play with?
Babcock was the coach in both Vancouver and Sochi when Canada won gold, but it took time each tournament to find wingers who meshed with Crosby. That's clearly not an issue here, as Crosby and the two Boston Bruins are a force as Canada is playing with a much different tempo than they did in Sochi on the Olympic-size ice.
In short, Crosby served notice in Game 1 of the World Cup that whether he's wearing a Penguins jersey or the red and white of Team Canada, he's at a whole other level. Not that any of that should come as a surprise.
Three stars
1. Sidney Crosby, C, Canada: Three-point night, ferocious backchecking ... if Canada was looking for its captain to set a tone for an important opening-night win over the overmatched Czechs, they got it in spades.
2. Carey Price, G, Canada: There was a point in the first half of the first period when the flow of the game was much less lopsided than it became, and Price did his job, denying Ondrej Palat on an early deflection and then shutting the door on the Czech power play on the night. And let's remember this was Price's first meaningful game since last November after injury issues.
3. Drew Doughty, D, Canada: Doughty was a presence on both sides of the puck all night.