It didn't take long for the home crowd to erupt after the puck was dropped in the opening match of the 4 Nations Face-Off on Wednesday.
Team Canada earned an early first-period power play which sent the likes of NHL superstars Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar and Sam Reinhart onto the ice.
Just 10 seconds into the extra man-advantage, MacKinnon buried the puck from the left circle off wicked assists from Crosby and McDavid in front of the net.
The rare tic-tac-toe goal from NHL rivals sent the Montreal crowd into a frenzy as Canada took an early 1-0 lead over Sweden.
It was the second-fastest goal scored in NHL international tournament history (56 seconds). Bryan Trottier scored the fastest (25 seconds) in the 1984 Canada Cup. It was also the fastest power-play goal scored (12 seconds) to open any NHL international tournament.
This year's NHL All-Star competition was replaced with the 4 Nations Face-Off, seen as a warm-up for players that will likely represent the same countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
The league will be hoping this rare international tournament will go well as commissioner Gary Bettman announced Wednesday that the World Cup of Hockey will make its triumphant return in 2028.
The 4 Nations Face-Off runs from Wednesday through Feb. 20 with Team USA and Finland rounding out the rest of the field.
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