Tonight the United States and Canada met for the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off, in a rematch of an epic American win on Saturday night. The US was without injured defenseman Charlie McAvoy, but injured forwards Auston Matthews and Matthew and Brady Tkachuk returned. Kyle Connor was scratched so Chris Kreider could remain in the lineup. On the Canadian side, Cale Makar (who missed the first meeting) was in, and Thomas Harley subbed in for the ill Josh Morrisey.
During the pregame introductions, the teams were represented by honorary captains Wayne Gretzky and Mike Eruzione. The latter wore a Johnny Gaudreau Team USA jersey.
First Period
Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a nifty move to the middle and a rocket shot through traffic. Unfortunate to see Zach Werenski on ice for this goal, but he was playing with the young Jake Sanderson (son of CBJ great Geoff) and Z was on the right side, which he’s not used to.
Canada had much of the momentum early, but the US responded later in the period and got a gritty goal to tie it up. Who else but the Tkachuk brothers? Werenski was on ice for this one too, still on the right but temporarily with Noah Hanifin.
Second Period
The game seemed a bit much for Sanderson in the first period, but he gained comfort and confidence as the game went on and he got the go-ahead goal in the second period. Werenski earned the second assist with a long range shot to start the sequence, with Auston Matthews having the first rebound attempt and Sanderson the second.
Vincent Trocheck was called for tripping, which ended up being the only penalty called in the game (given the stakes, I’m OK with the refs swallowing their whistles). Despite Trocheck being on the team mostly for his killing abilities, his teammates stepped up for him. A key play involved Jack Eichel deflecting a shot with his skate even after he had lost his stick.
Later in the period, Canada tied it up. The speed of Mitch Marner and Sam Bennett was too much for the likes of Adam Fox and Brock Nelson.
Third Period
The third frame was a defensive clinic on both sides. There were just 12 combined shots on goal (4 for Canada, 8 for the US). Jaccob Slavin in particular picked up where he left off in the third period of Saturday’s game, with plays like this to snuff out Canadian scoring chances.
Late in the period, before there was a “USA” chant, the Boston crowd delivered a “Johnny Hockey” chant in honor of the late Gaudreau, who of course played his college hockey there for Boston College.
Overtime
In the third period and overtime, Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington was lights out. The Americans got some good looks but he turned them all away.
Despite the Americans controlling more of the possession, once Canada got an offensive zone faceoff, they were able to get the puck to the best player in the world, and he finally rose to the occasion. Again, it was Fox and Hanifin on defense for a goal against. Both Fox and Auston Matthews pursued Marner too much into the corner, which left McDavid wide open in front of the net.
Final Thoughts
Our guy Zach Werenski finished the tournament as the leading scorer, with 6 points. That’s one ahead of McDavid and Sidney Crosby. He earned points in all 4 games and also had a +3 rating. It was awesome to see him continue the excellent play that he has displayed all season for the Blue Jackets. Maybe now he’ll get more national attention for his Norris Trophy campaign.
Depth became an issue here, with Mike Sullivan using just three lines for most of the third period. Matthew Tkachuk didn’t play at all after the second, because the injury he suffered in Saturday’s game was clearly still affecting him. Kreider and Trocheck ended up mostly stapled to the bench as well.
When it comes to building the roster for the Olympics a year from now, at least then the GMs will be able to take larger rosters over to Italy. The US will also hope for a healthy Quinn Hughes then, which would have made a massive impact had he been able to play here. On the forward side, young offensive stars like Tage Thompson, Cole Caufield, and Clayton Keller should be in the mix.
As for the tournament itself, it has to go down as a massive success. The players were clearly as starved for best-on-best international hockey as the fans were, and from the first shift of the first game, we could see that they were bringing 100% effort in every match-up. Playing for their countries mattered. This sets the stage for the NHL’s return to the Olympics next year, and then a larger World Cup of Hockey in 2028.
What did you think about this tournament? Or about the roster construction for USA and Canada?
Up Next
The NHL regular season resumes with 10 games on Saturday, including the Blue Jackets hosting the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:00 PM EST. Dante Fabbro, Kirill Marchenko, and Boone Jenner all practiced on Wednesday and Thursday, so all are in the mix to potentially return to the lineup then.