MONTREAL – It was the game this generation of hockey superstars had been longing for.
Nine years, Matthew Tkachuk articulated, of anticipation for USA-Canada.
And from the second the puck was dropped on the marquee matchup of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-off, it was an instant classic as Team USA secured a 3-1 win in front of fiery crowd of 21,105 inside hockey’s grandest cathedral, Bell Center, to secure their spot in the first best-on-best championship game since the 2014 Olympic Games.
The Red, White and Bruisers came to play.
They came to silence the Canadian crowd as the tournament now ventures to the other side of the border in Boston.
Villains or heroes, depending on your vantage point, the Americans came to represent.
Perhaps even more so than usual given the political climate that has engulfed this matchup.
On Canadian Flag Day, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the red-and-white Maple Leaf, the natives booed the U.S. national anthem as expected. Just like they have at other recent sporting events north of the border, ever since U.S. president Donald Trump threatened tariffs and called Canada a ‘serious contender’ to become the 51st state.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who Trump derisively referred to as governor, was in attendance to witness it all.
Somehow, the political animosity in the air didn’t even compare to the animosity on the ice.
Punches were exchanged like greetings on three separate occasions in the first nine seconds.
Every net-front play was met with resistance, a shove to the face or a cross check in the back.
Both teams ran each other through the boards, not against.
Nothing was held back. Nobody was off limits.
It was as if the two rivals taking the ice detonated an explosion off the opening faceoff.
Two seconds in and Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel were throwing haymakers.
The next attempt to drop the puck? Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, his brother’s Panthers teammate, went at it. All while their father, Keith Tkachuk, who fought Claude Lemieux in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, looked on.
Once the puck was finally in play, it was a mere six seconds before Rangers forward J.T. Miller dropped his mitts and took on the 6-foot-6, 228 pound Colton Parayko in front of Canada’s net.
Canada came away with a power play, but Team USA stifled the man-advantage unit of the tournament twice through the first period.
The Americans successfully stayed out of the box for the remainder of the game, after nine total penalties were called through the opening 20 minutes.
Connor McDavid had his ‘Welcome to the Tournament’ moment when he opened the scoring off a slick backhander just over 5 ½ minutes into the game, skating right around American defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
It was also McDavid who was then obliterated by McAvoy into the boards just before Jake Guentzel tied it up for Team USA at the other end at the 10:15 mark.
Team USA broke the tie on a goal from Dylan Larkin 13:33 into the second period, when the Red Wings captain took it himself on a 2-on-1 rush and sniped one past Canada goalie Jordan Binnington for the go-ahead goal.
The only blemish on the third period being Matthew Tkachuk indicating to the USA coaching staff toward the end of the third period that he was unable to finish the game due to injury.
The home crowd let the home team know they were still with them until the very end, but with each unsuccessful play, the noise would dissipate until Guentzel’s empty-netter sent fans clad in red for the exits.
All is quiet inside Bell Center now.
The Americans were here.
