Injuries Put Damper On Four Nations Championship Showdown
No matter the result in Thursday’s Four Nations Face-Off Championship game between the U.S. and Canada in Boston, the NHL got what it wanted out of the tournament. Whereas All-Star games for other sports have seen draining interest, hockey’s competitive event, however contrived, has reached household numbers that beat broadcasts for the Stanley Cup Final. This USA/Canada rematch was always the dream even before the political environment between the two nations soured.
The games are not only played at the elite’s warp speed, the intensity has been off the charts. Checks are finished, shots are blocked, and the emotions have gotten heated. It has made for some electric theater, with only one of the six round robin games, Team USA’s 6-1 victory over Finland, decided before the final minute or two.
It has also come at a cost. Injuries, unfortunately, can become the collateral damage when athletes go full bore. Among the two remaining principals, Team Canada lost shutdown defenseman Shea Theodore in its opener and then saw 2022 Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar fall ill prior to Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Team USA.
The Americans have their own ailments to ponder. Power forwards Matthew and Brady Tkachuk sustained injuries during the last two games while captain Auston Matthews sat out Monday’s irrelevant 2-1 defeat to Sweden with “upper body soreness.” All three core players are said to be itching to play in the finale, but they have to keep their first jobs in mind. Brady Tkachuk did not practice on Wednesday, not a great sign for his availability for the big rematch.
On the back line, the Bruins announced that Charlie McAvoy, a top-four defenseman for Team USA, was taken to a hospital to deal with an ACL joint injury and infection in his right shoulder sustained during the Canada game. He will definitely be out for Thursday’s contest, and there’s some drama as to whether the U.S. can bring in a ringer to replace him.
Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes, the brother of Devils stars Jack and Luke who was on the initial Team USA roster but had to ask out after suffering an oblique injury on January 31, has apparently recovered. The tournament rules would allow his return to the lineup, but only if the Americans reported that another defenseman would be unable to perform.
Would Team USA resort to some sort of chicanery to get the reigning Norris Trophy winner in the lineup? As of this writing, Hughes is still in Vancouver. Either way, it would be a shame if injuries, not the incredible action on the ice, became the story line.
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Once again, Thursday’s matchup is a straight up pick-em play, minus-110 on both sides. Don’t expect a repeat of the fight-filled first nine seconds from Saturday’s battle. However, the game will be brutally contested in the proper areas, from board scrums to neutral zone backchecks to the shoving at the net front. Here are three reasons why Team Canada and Team USA will win:
Team Canada
1) Brighter stars: Going into the event, Team Canada was expected to put their weight on the trio of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby. They have delivered, combining for six goals and six assists in the three games. Crosby’s impact as the tournament’s oldest player has been direct—his hit/takeaway/empty net goal thwarted Team Finland’s miracle comeback threat at the end of Monday’s 5-3 victory that put Canada in the final.
2) Momentum: Team Canada needed a regulation win on Monday and played with the requisite desperation, while Team USA had already clinched a berth in the championship game and treated their game against Sweden accordingly. It should be easier for Canada to maintain than it will be for the Americans to turn the faucet back on.
3) Makar on power play: No offense to Josh Morrissey and Drew Doughty, both of whom are excellent PP quarterbacks, but they ain’t Makar, who leads all defensemen this season in individual scoring chances and high danger scoring chances with the man advantage, per NaturalStatTrick.com. Only Nashville’s Roman Josi comes close. Given Team USA’s propensity to push the envelope, Makar is now available to make them pay.
Team USA
1) The better goalie: In so many cases, this is all one requires to win a hockey game. Connor Hellebuyck hasn’t been called upon to make a ton of ten-bell saves, but he’s so positionally sound that it often looks like he might not need to. His counterpart for Canada, Jordan Binnington, has given up a softy (from my perspective) each game.
2) Depth scoring: With Matthews and Jack Hughes relatively silenced to the tune of one assist each (it should be noted that regular linemate Jake Guentzel leads the team with three goals), Team USA has gotten production from a host of players, with third-liner Dylan Larkin notching Saturday’s game-winner. Assuming the Tkachuks dress to flank center Jack Eichel, the U.S. can match Canada’s supreme talent up front.
3) Home ice: It hasn’t always mattered. See Saturday and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey best-of-three final, where the road team always won, including Team USA shocking Canada twice in Montreal to steal the championship. However, Team USA’s other major tournament wins came on home soil during the Winter Olympic Games while Team Canada probably got a boost to outlast the Americans in overtime to win the 2010 Olympic gold medal game in Vancouver. The last time the pros went at each other, during the 2016 World Cup, the Canadians captured the trophy in Toronto.
Prediction: Canada 4 USA 2