By Stephen Whyno
MONTREAL (AP) — Brady and Matthew Tkachuk every scored twice, and the brothers had a handful of massive hits to assist the USA beat Finland 6-1 on Thursday evening in every staff’s opening recreation on the 4 Nations Face-Off, a bodily showdown performed with edge all through.
Everybody was ending checks, together with Jack Eichel dumping Finnish captain Aleksander Barkov into the U.S. bench. Brady Tkachuk stunned 6-foot-6 Niko Mikkola with one in every of his game-high eight hits, and Matthew Tkachuk gave Patrik Laine an earful earlier than a faceoff because the Individuals started to take over.
The scoreboard made it appear to be extra of a rout than it was for the primary two intervals, when high quality probabilities have been at a premium and area on the ice was onerous to search out. Matt Boldy scored the go-ahead objective on a textbook deflection of Minnesota Wild teammate Brock Faber’s shot late within the second, then the floodgates opened early within the third.
Many followers hadn’t even returned to their seats from intermission when Matthew Tkachuk sailed a protracted shot in previous Juuse Saros 15 seconds into the interval. Saros then gave up one other softie to Jake Guentzel, and Brady Tkachuk beat the struggling Nashville Predators goaltender once more to make it three U.S. targets in lower than three minutes.
That onslaught quieted the very pro-Finland crowd stuffed with Canadians desperate to root towards their nation’s largest hockey rival. Some even booed the U.S. anthem earlier than the sport, and there was a lot extra the place that got here from for Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews a number of occasions he touched the puck.
Matthew Tkachuk added one other for good measure on the ability play with 8:47 left, and that was sufficient for the “U-S-A! U-S-A!” chants to fill the bowl at Bell Centre. Within the waning minutes, a number of U.S. followers proclaimed, “We want Canada!”
Finland solely gave followers one actual alternative to cheer, when late-added defenseman Henri Jokiharju beat Connor Hellebuyck clear on a shot 7:31 in to make it 1-0. Hellebuyck stopped the following 18 pictures he confronted to complete with 20 saves.
The identical couldn’t be stated for Saros, who allowed six targets on 32 pictures and may very well be changed in internet by Kevin Lankinen for Finland’s recreation towards Sweden on Saturday.
The U.S. doesn’t want to fret about making a swap there, however coach Mike Sullivan made some eager midgame changes that contributed to his staff transferring to the highest of the 4 Nations standings one flip by way of round-robin play.
Throughout the second interval Sullivan moved Brady Tkachuk to left wing with Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk, and Kyle Connor to the second line alongside Matthews and Jack Hughes, and he flip-flopped his second and third protection pairs to place Noah Hanifin with Adam Fox, and Jaccob Slavin with Brock Faber.
Matthew Tkachuk, recent off successful the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers final season, completed with three factors because of an help on Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk’s second objective of the evening. Defenseman Zach Werenski additionally had a three-assist recreation.
Up subsequent
Rivalry day on the 4 Nations begins Saturday with Sweden towards Finland at 1 p.m. EST, adopted by the U.S. and Canada at 8 p.m.
Initially Revealed: February 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM PST
