It’s purely an exhibition, so with reports that Charlie McAvoy is not 100% his involvement becomes a matter of precaution so don’t be surprised if he’s held out of this last of the 4 Nations Face-Off round-robin between Team USA and Team Sweden.
Canada clinched its spot in Thursday night’s championship game here with a 5-3 victory today over Finland, which got two late goals from Markus Granlund to make it interesting. Canada needed a win in regulation, and Granlund got the game to 4-3 with relief goaltender Jussi Saros out of the net for a sixth attacker.
In the final analysis, Canada stressed Finland all over the ice, but Sasha Barkov was still a stellar plus-2 while logging 24:37 in ice time. Where the Finns could not stay with Canada was in the 11-plus minutes that its third defense pairing of Nikolas Matinpalo and former Boston Bruins first-rounder Urho Vaakanainen were both minus-3. Canada scored three of its four goals with a goaltender in the net while Matinpalo and Vaakanainen were on the ice.
And it wasn’t necessarily because they played poorly. On Nathan MacKinnon’s second-period goal, Vaakanainen was caught at the end of his shift – remember, the second period presents the long change (path to the bench for relief) – and MacKinnon’s linemates, Sam Reinhart and Sidney Crosby slid in from opposite directions like velociraptors when Vaakanainen had the puck (and little energy) in the defensive corner. The forecheckers converged, Canada took over the puck, and the rest was history.
The point to all of this is the U.S. is a deeper team and will not present such an opportunity. Credit to Canada for recognizing its window and going through it.
Tonight’s US-Sweden game is a matter of maintaining momentum vs. national pride, so maybe we get a really good game.
The dry run by the game presenters announced McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman as starters … we’ll see, starting with the pregame warm-up skate around 7:30 pm.
As expected, McAvoy is being held out tonight as well as Matthew Tkachuk and Connor Hellebuyck. Jake Oettinger gets the start; perhaps Jeremy Swayman (in uniform tonight) will see some action, as the result carries no ramifications.
Alas, Todd Angilly sings “The Star Spangled Banner” on his 50th birthday … didn’t see that coming.
FIRST PERIOD
Chris Kreider buries the rebound of Zach Werenski’s rush just 35 seconds into the game, and Team USA leads 1-0.
Dylan Larkin snakes away a puck it looked like he had lost to Filip Forsberg but misses the net.
Brady Tkachuk with two big hits already.
Werenski penetrates again, but Samuel Ersson makes the stop.
Tkachuk crashes into Ersson at the right post, shakes off some discomfort as he leaves the ice.
Bruins center Elias Lindholm, who was the backchecking center on Kreider’s goal, is barely inside his own zone when he flips the puck across the ice, clearing the glass for a penalty. Lindholm’s season has been the definition of bad puck luck.
Now a penalty on the U.S., as local product Matt Boldy is off for interference. Sweden to the powerplay with a chance to tie this game.
Redirected shot gets Sweden. Gus Nyquist scores, 1-1.
Jesper Bratt gets a pass and beats Oettinger from the wide piece of the left circle to give Sweden a 2-1 lead with 55.1 seconds left in the first period.
The U.S. had played some comparatively flat shifts but had pushed a little harder over the last few minutes, only to now give up this goal.
Sweden is the only team in the 4 Nations Face-Off without a win, so they’re playing for pride tonight. The U.S. needs to dig in and find motivation in what amounts to a tune-up game for Thursday’s showdown with Canada. Right now, it’s tune-down game for the Amerks.
Shots after one period: 11-8 U.S.
SECOND PERIOD
The Americans hit Gustav Forsling twice on the same shift, trying to push here.
Rasmus Dahlin (whom Rink Rap thinks of as Glen Wesley in a bad mood) gets rough with Kyle Connor, who had put one of those hits on Forsling earlier in the period.
Jack Hughes couldn’t corral a skipping pass that would have been a clean breakaway. Then Noah Hanifin takes a hooking penalty at the 4-minute mark.
Oettinger with two saves, and USA gets the kill.
Matt Boldy, mad because he was stripped of his stick, resets, gets the puck back, dumps it in, makes a hit, juggles the puck back out front with two touches of his (recovered) hockey stick, then bats a pass across the goalmouth to Brock Nelson, whose shot is stopped by Ersson, then Nelson knocks Ersson down. No call, Dahlin doesn’t like that. Great hockey sequence.
Ensuing action ends with a penalty on Forsberg, sending the U.S. to the powerplay in search for the tying goal just past the midway mark of this game.
Ersson gobbling up everything the Americans have to offer.
Sweden comes back with heavy 5-on-5 pressure until Oettinger snares an Erik Karlsson shot from the left point.
Brady Tkachuk, who crashed into the right post with what looked like his left hip, has not returned, so we’ve now got neither Tkachuk, nor McAvoy or Austin Matthews in the USA lineup.
Lindholm rushes down right wing but his swing at a pass deflected upward connects and goes out of the rink.
Sweden gets a better chance when Lucas Raymond has Oettinger down but cannot find the handle.
Second period ends: 2-1 for Sweden. Shots through two are 21-17 USA.
THIRD PERIOD
All U.S. until Adam Fox wipes out Raymond, putting Sweden on the powerplay (crosschecking). An efficient kill for the Americans.
Leo Carlsson rushed the puck through the middle when Jack Eichel thumped him shoulder to shoulder, popping Carlsson’s helmet off his head and spinning onto the ice to the roar of the crowd.
Nyquist blocks a shot, hops on one skate, goes right down the tunnel, joining the list of casualties in this game.
Karlsson gets a minor for high sticking at 7:59, putting the U.S. on the powerplay.
The Swedes are less than 10 minutes (9:17) away from their first victory of the tournament, and these guys are the alpha and the omega of backchecking, so the compromised USA lineup has its work cut out.
Brock Nelson all alone, cannot beat Ersson. Sweden still up, 2-1.
Oettinger keeps the U.S. within striking distance with a pair of point-blank saves on Viktor Arvidsson.
Oettinger to the bench with just under two minutes remaining. It’s essentially a 6-on-5 powerplay for the U.S.
Timeout U.S. with 1:22 left.
Great game by Ersson, and Oettinger did a great job keeping the Americans within a goal for this final scene.
Sweden goes for the empty net, misses, icing.
Time runs out on the United States. Sweden leaves with a good taste with a 2-1 victory.
The main concern for the U.S. is the bumps and bruises, most recently that of Brady Tkachuk.
Jay Pandolfo presents the Player of the Game award to Jesper “The Little” Bratt, whose quickness and elusiveness and tenacity paced the Swedes to this win.
Thursday’s championship starts at 8 pm and is carried by ESPN and ESPN-Plus.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 