What an unbelievable game that was between Team Canada and Team Czechia--quite possibly the best so far of the 2026 Olympic tournament. The Czechs held a 3-2 lead late into the third before the Canadians tied it up, forcing overtime and eventually getting the win on a shot from Mitch Marner, but there's a good chance overtime wouldn't have even happened without St. Louis Blues netminder Jordan Binnington.
With just over a minute to goin the third with the game tied, Czech forward Marty Necas found himself alone on a breakaway, the game on his stick, one on one with Binnington--and Binnington stoned him. That goal likely would've been enough to eliminate Canada from the Olympics while they're icing perhaps the greatest roster of all time.
That's not to absolve Binnington, though: he was shaky for a lot of the game. He could be forgiven for one of the breakaway goals he allowed, but he overcommitted on two of the others he allowed, ceding far too much net to the Czech shooters--and David Pastrnak is not the sort of player you want with the puck on his stick in the faceoff dot.
Binnington finished the game with an .875 SV%, which isn't great when you consider how thin Czechia's offense is compared to other opponents they've faced--and their likely date with the US team in the Gold Medal game. Still, despite the underwhelming counting stats, Binnington came up big when it mattered. Add in the shutout he opened the tournament with, and there's no reason for head coach Jon Cooper to switch up the goaltending rotation.