BOSTON — A meaningless affair turned out to be a costly one for Team USA, with its best player through their first two contests of this 4 Nations Face-Off finishing Game 3 in the infirmary instead of on the ice.
That the Americans lost 2-1 to previously winless Sweden on Monday should be a back-pocket concern to losing Brady Tkachuk, the net-crashing king of this tournament who went full force into the post midway through the first period and only returned to the game for a 14-second shift before it was announced his night was over.
USA coach Mike Sullivan said afterward that Tkachuk’s departure due to a lower-body injury was precautionary and that all signs were pointing towards him playing in Thursday’s final against Canada, but there’s no denying he could be one of several Americans going into that game feeling less than 100 per cent.
Brother Matthew is another.
He missed most of the third period of Saturday’s final-clinching 3-1 win over Canada Saturday with a lower-body injury and was kept out of Monday’s game.
But in an appearance on TNT during play, Matthew Tkachuk told broadcasters Kenny Albert and Ed Olczyk: “I’m expecting the best environment I’ve ever played in on Thursday night and I’m so excited.”
Whether USA captain Auston Matthews will be available for that one is up in the air after missing Monday's game with some upper-body discomfort. Also came word on Tuesday morning that defenceman Charlie McAvoy will be sidelined for the final with upper-body injury in time to play.
The Boston Globe reported Monday that McAvoy was admitted to hospital. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported Tuesday that McAvoy was dealing with an infection related to the injury.
Either way, it left the door open to the possibility that the USA will be down key players on Thursday.
That might have been the case even before Brady Tkachuk left Monday’s game. And he wasn’t the only one to head down USA’s tunnel during play.
Vincent Trochek was seen shaking off a hand injury before briefly leaving during the first period. He played just 1:53 in the third period and only 10:48 on the night, which belonged to the Swedes.
They got goals from Gustav Nyquist and Jesper Bratt — and 31 saves from third-stringer Samuel Ersson, who was sensational in place of Linus Ullmark and Filip Gustavsson, who were both too sick to start — and carried play for pockets of the game.
USA was hoping to use this one as a tune-up for Thursday’s rematch with Canada but ultimately came out of it with things — and bodies — to work on.
“I think we had a couple bad plays on those goals, but we had our looks,” said USA forward Jack Hughes. “We had a lot of looks and we just didn’t put them in. We can definitely build on that, but we just have to look forward to Thursday.”
He’ll have to hope his game comes to life against Canada in Boston.
The 23-year-old New Jersey Devils star has 24 goals and 65 points in 57 games this season but came into this third game of the tournament with just one assist and came out of it with zero goals and points despite getting on the ice for 21:21.
Meanwhile, Chris Kreider made his tournament debut on Monday, scored USA’s only goal 35 seconds in, and showed over his 17:01 he can be an option regardless of whether the team has all its forwards available to it.
“I thought Kreids played really well,” said Sullivan. “Obviously, he scores the goal, but he did more than score goals. He can really skate, he’s got good size, he can kill penalties, he played on the power play. We played him with Jack Eichel and I thought he was a good fit there. He goes to the net, he’s good in the puck pursuit game, he can really skate, his north-south speed is a challenge for any opponent…”
When asked specifically if Kreider’s game fits in the style of game it’ll be between USA and Canada on Thursday, Sullivan said, “Sure it does.”
“He’s a big, strong kid that can play a physical game,” he added. “I would anticipate that it will be a physical game. Both teams play a similar style, both north-south teams that play with a ton of speed and a ton of physicality. I think Kreids, his game, without a doubt suits that.”
What is in doubt is USA’s ability to bring the same smash and bash intensity that secured the team's place in the final before Monday’s games were played.
The Tkachuks and McAvoy were at the heart of that, with the brothers starting the mayhem of Saturday’s win over Canada with fights and with McAvoy fueling it with two of his five hits upending Connor McDavid.
Brady had a team-leading six hits in that game. He started the tournament with eight in a 6-1 over Finland, in which he also contributed two goals. And he caught Leo Carlsson and Mattias Ekholm on Monday with successive blows before jamming his left hip into Ersson’s net.
To see that knock him out of the game with nothing but pride on the line was, at best, mildly concerning for Team USA.
“I don't anticipate it being an issue,” said Sullivan.
Perhaps two days off between Monday’s game in the final will make it less of one.
Canada isn’t coming in worry-free, but it appears relatively healthy. Shea Theodore was ruled out early in the tournament, but Cale Makar, who was too sick to play in the loss to USA, came back for the 5-3 win over Finland on Monday.
“We get another crack at them now,” Makar said after playing close to 24 minutes. “You dream of that as a kid: playing in Canada against the U.S.”
Hughes, Eichel and Matthew Boldy all said they couldn’t wait for Round 2.
Dylan Larkin knows there are things for USA to take from Round 1 that must help them regardless of how healthy they are.
“The buy-in and the compete level, we weren't perfect, but it was unbelievable,” he said. “We had breakdowns, but our sticks were so good, we clogged up the middle of the ice, and we took away their speed. And those guys are gonna look at the video like we do and try and have answers to that, but we're gonna need that. When it comes down to it, the puck’s in the corner, it's who comes out with it, and I thought our sticks that night were so good, and all of our defensemen played so well containing their big guys. So, we're going to need that.”
They didn’t get much else out of Monday’s game.
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