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Team USA, Canada set for anticipated rematch in 4 Nations championship game
"It’s what we wanted, right?"
The rematch is officially on.
After a heavyweight bout between Team USA and Team Canada on Saturday resulted in three fights in nine seconds — along with a 3-1 win for the Americans in Montreal — both juggernaut programs will meet again on Thursday, with international bragging rights on the line.
Team Canada officially punched its ticket to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game on Monday afternoon after beating Finland, 5-3, in their final matchup in round-robin play at TD Garden.
Team USA, which has defeated both Finland and Canada during tournament play, already clinched its spot in the title game after Saturday’s win.
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The Americans took on Sweden in their final round-robin matchup on Monday evening, falling, 2-1, in a game that held little sway over the standings.
The U.S. and Canada will now meet in one of the most anticipated hockey games in recent memory on Thursday night at TD Garden. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m.
“It’s a Game 7, right? It’s for everything,” Team USA forward and North Chelmsford native Jack Eichel said. “You’re going to see some desperate hockey. You’re going to see everything you saw in the first game and more, I imagine. … We know we’re going to have to bring our best. They’re going to be better. “
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That matchup will put Bruins captain Brad Marchand in a unique spot, as he and the rest of Team Canada will be playing in a hostile environment on Causeway Street.
“No, I haven’t thought about it,” Marchand said postgame about the possibility of being booed on Thursday. “At the end of the day, I’ve been booed everywhere. So I’m not too worried about it. … There’s no bigger rivalry than Canada-U.S. Everybody wanted it. So it’s going to be an extremely intense game. One that we’re all going to be looking forward to.”
After struggling to generate Grade-A scoring chances against the Americans over the weekend, Team Canada erased plenty of doubt about their offensive firepower on Monday, scoring twice on their first four shots of the game against Finland.
Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon both scored within the first five minutes of regulation, with Brayden Point building Canada’s lead to 3-0 at the end of the first intermission.
MacKinnon added his second goal of the afternoon at 5:03 in the second period to give Canada a 4-0 advantage — a score that held until the final seven minutes of regulation.
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Finland did not roll over down the stretch, with Esa Lindell and Mikael Granlund (twice) lighting the lamp over a stretch of 5:24 to make it a 4-3 contest with just 1:17 left in regulation.
But Finland’s improbable push for overtime came up short, as Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby added an empty-net goal with 56 seconds left on the clock to close out the win.
Marchand finished with zero shots on goal over 14:13 of ice time in the win over Finland.
Even though Team USA dropped their matchup to Sweden later on Monday, head coach Mike Sullivan was pleased with the effort put forth by his team — especially given the number of injuries hindering the Americans.
“I thought our guys competed really hard,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t get the result tonight. I don’t think it was from a lack of effort or lack of opportunity. I think we hit four or five posts. We missed on a breakaway. There was lots of opportunities.
“Give Sweden credit, too. They played hard also. They’re a really good team. They competed hard for a game that, for all intents and purposes, didn’t have significance with respect to the tournament. I thought there’s a lot of professionalism on both sides, with how hard the groups played.”
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Not only did Team USA not play lineup regulars in Matthew Tkachuk, Connor Hellebuyck, Auston Matthews, and Charlie McAvoy on Monday — but they also lost forward Brady Tkachuk to a lower-body injury in the first period.
Even with those injury woes, TD Garden was roaring in Team USA’s first matchup stateside in the tournament — especially during Todd Angilly’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” ahead of puck drop.
That momentum carried over into the start of the game, with Boxford native Chris Kreider opening the scoring just 35 seconds into the game after potting a rebound past Samuel Ersson (32 saves) — sending Boston’s barn into a frenzy.
Kreider’s tally wasn’t enough to lift Team USA to a victory however, as Sweden responded by firing a pair of pucks past Jake Oettinger (21 saves) later in the first period to cap the scoring on the night.
Gustav Nyquist and Jesper Bratt scored for Team Sweden, while Bruins forward Elias Lindholm finished Monday’s win for Sweden with one shot on goal over 17:34 of ice time.
Thursday’s upcoming showdown will mark the first “best-on-best” title game featuring the U.S. and Canada since they clashed in the gold medal game of the 2010 Winter Olympics — with Crosby scoring the famous “golden goal” in Vancouver to win it for Canada.
“We’d love to play them again,” MacKinnon said of battling against the Team USA. “We feel like we could beat those guys. We plan on playing a little better Thursday.”
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Saturday’s clash between Team USA and Canada lived up to the hype, with an intense rivalry further elevated when Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, and J.T. Miller all dropped the gloves with Brandon Hagel, Sam Bennett, and Colton Parayko, respectively, within the first nine seconds of the matchup.
Beyond the theatrics and emotions behind those early scraps, a pitched battle between hockey greats like McDavid, Crosby, Matthews, and others made for appointment viewing from diehard fans and casual viewers alike.
Saturday’s game was the most-viewed, non-Stanley Cup Final telecast since 2019, and peaked at 5.2 million viewers.
“I think it’s a great celebration of hockey,” Sullivan said. “It really is. Some of the generational talents on both sides. It’s so awesome from my standpoint. I feel like I get the best seat in the house behind the bench and being up close to it. To watch what these guys do on the ice, at the pace that they’re able to do it?
“Sometimes we just marvel at what goes on out there with some of these guys. So it will be an incredible atmosphere. I know our guys are excited about the opportunity to win the championship. That was the objective when we got here. We’re gonna have to earn it again, just like we’re trying to do each day here.”
Expect plenty more cheers, jeers, scraps, and bone-crunching hits on Thursday when these two hockey powers collide once again at TD Garden.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Marchand said of the atmosphere at TD Garden on Thursday. “The fans here love the game, and they’re going to be very excited, very energized, and bring tons of emotion. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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“This is huge. This is the biggest game I’ve played in in quite some time. Maybe ever,” Eichel, who won a Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2023, added. “Yeah, really looking forward to it. I think everyone in the room is looking forward to it. It’s what we wanted, right?”
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