Wednesday kicked off the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament at the Bell Centre featuring Team Canada against Team Sweden in what ended up being a nail-biter. Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner scored the overtime winner to give Canada their first win and a hard-fought two points.
Team USA and Team Finland played their first 4 Nations Face-Off game last night. USA has a star-studded cast throughout the lineup, featuring stars like Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Zach Werenski, and Connor Hellebuyck.
While not as superstar-heavy, Finland has offensive weapons in Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho. Furthermore, Finland has an excellent goaltender in Juuse Saros. But with the Finnish defence missing three of their top-six defencemen, Finland was clearly the underdog.
Let’s take a look at the emerging storylines coming out of last night’s game.
Tkachuk brothers unite
The last time brothers played together at a high-level international competition was the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which featured Daniel and Henrik Sedin for Sweden, and Milan and Zbynek Michalek for the Czech Republic.
Brady and Matthew Tkachuk started on different lines, with Matthew Tkachuk playing on the first line, and Brady Tkachuk on the third. However, Finland’s masterful defence for the first two periods stymied the USA’s zone entries and offence.
However, mid-way through the second period, head coach Mike Sullivan did what many wanted to see. He put the Tkachuk brothers with Jack Eichel. The two fast, aggressive power forwards with an excellent puck transporter in Eichel wreaked havoc on Finland for the rest of the night.
The Tkachuk brothers played as we expected throughout the game: fast, hard-hitting, and being at the centre of after-whistle scrums. Brady Tkachuk scored the tying goal in the first period to tie the game at one. Matthew scored two power play goals, which saw USA go two for four on the night. The Tkachuk brothers finished with four goals and one assist between the two of them on the night.
Captain America
With the political tension between Canada and the United States, the crowd at the Bell Centre let their feelings be known during the American anthem. Matthews has two strikes against him: he’s the captain of Team USA, Team Canada’s bitter rival in international hockey, and he’s the captain of Montreal’s most hated NHL rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Despite being booed whenever he touched the puck, Matthews showed tremendous chemistry with Jack Hughes. They were connecting on the ice all night, noticeably connecting along the seam. Matthews was also spectacular defensively by breaking up plays, intercepting passes, and being responsible in his own end.
Matthews drew a penalty in the dying seconds of the second period, which would start the USA’s offence onslaught in the third. Though Matthews did not rack up the points like the Tkachuk brothers, Matthews was all over the ice in last night’s game. Matthews had an assist on Jake Guentzel’s 4–1 goal that also saw fellow linemate Jack Hughes rewarded with an assist.
Finland’s defence crumbles
Despite missing three of their top-six defencemen, Finland did a masterful job at stopping the USA’s zone entries. Finland consistently plugged up the neutral zone, had active sticks on the forecheck, and blocked shots. Finland killed both penalties up until the third period, notably not allowing a shot on the USA’s first power play.
However, Finland’s tremendous underdog effort was blinked away in the third period. Finland allowed three goals on four shots in the first three minutes of the third period.
While Patrik Laine got some good opportunities in the game, he can’t produce all the offence all on his own. Finland had several chances to shoot the puck, and they elected to pass instead. Key offensive players like Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintz had zero shot attempts entering the third period. They finished the night with zero shots on goal.
Finland is not going to win games when their top offensive players are held shotless, let alone goalless.
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Saturday starts in the afternoon with Sweden and Finland which is a classic Nordic rivalry. Perhaps the most anticipated game is Saturday night with Team Canada versus the United States. With the political tension between Canada and the United States, and the Bell Centre being a staunch Canadian hockey market, the game on Saturday will certainly be loud and exciting.
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