Like Old Times; Crosby, Fleury Lead Team Canada Win

There was a time when Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury were teammates and key components in many Stanley Cup playoff wins this time of year. The venue and circumstances have changed, but there they were again Sunday, helping to produce a win.

Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Team Canada captain, had three assists, and Fleury, late of the Minnesota Wild and the NHL in general, made 16 saves in his first appearance in goal at the 2025 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, as the Canadians pounded Latvia 7-1 to move to 2-0. Fleury was named Canada’s player of the game.

Crosby also had his feisty cap on. He mixed things up a couple times in scrums and even got assessed roughing and slashing penalties. He also had a couple scoring chances in addition to his assists. At 37, he is playing in the worlds for the first time since 2015.

Fleury, 40, who won three Stanley Cups with the Penguins and coincidentally during Sunday’s game was named to the NHL’s all-quarter-century team (Crosby and Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin already made it among skaters), recently retired from the NHL after 21 seasons. He is playing in the worlds for the first time.

Latvia’s Eduards Tralmaks beat Fleury glove side in the first period to open the scoring, but that was the high point for Latvia. Team Canada got goals from Travis Konecny (Crosby assist) and Nathan MacKinnon shortly thereafter in the first and never looked back.

Crosby was playing with Konecny and rising star Macklin Celebrini — who scored in the third, with Crosby picking up his third assist. Konecny replaced Adam Fantilli, who was on that second line in Canada’s first game, a win over Slovenia.

Team Canada next plays France on Tuesday.