Throughout the 4 Nations Faceoff, we’ll be keeping track of all the action and bringing you all of the results in one place.
USA vs. Finland
Much has been coming into this tournament about Finland’s missing three of their top-six defensemen before they even kicked off their first game, the weakness this would bring the team as a result, but you wouldn’t know it, at least from how this game started out for them. Indeed, their offense came up for them first, and they were the ones to open up the scoring for the game early in the first period on a goal from Henri Jokiharju after a nice bit of passing on the rush, getting right through the American defenders. But the Americans, still getting the better of the chances through the early goings, weren’t going to let this one get away from them, and they found the equalizer just under three minutes later, with Brady Tkachuk banking a shot in off of Juuse Saros.
The Americans were beginning to find some good momentum, but the Finns were also doing well to keep them largely contained, at least for a time. They held the Americans to just one more goal in the second period (this one from Matt Boldy), and kept themselves well enough in the game.
But, of course, this couldn’t last forever, and by the time the third period was rolling around, the strength of the American offense was beginning to overwhelm them. It began with the Americans on the power play to start the third period, and making quick work to get themselves rolling — a shot from Matthew Tkachuk all the way up at the right point deflected off a Finnish skater in front and past Saros to give them a two-goal lead. And then just 11 seconds later, the Americans were able to get control of the puck off the faceoff and get moving into the offensive zone, with Auston Matthews setting up Jake Guentzel on the rush for his first goal of the tournament. But wait, there’s more — that early momentum that the Americans found simply could not be slowed down, and they further extended their lead not long after, with Brady Tkachuk scoring a huge goal on the rush, picking up his second of the night and making it three goals for the Americans inside the first three minutes of the period.
Things settled down a little bit from here, as the Americans’ pressure dipped a bit and the Finns were able to lock down their defensive efforts again. For a while there, it looked like that early scoring outburst might be all we got for the rest of the night, but when the Americans got a prime opportunity on the power play halfway through the frame, after Joel Armia took a roughing penalty, they made the most of it. A shot from Zach Werenski from center point made its way through onto Saros but not in, but Matthew Tkachuk was able to corral the rebound in front and chip it in for his second of the night. And this, it turned out, would be all she wrote. There was a bit of pushback from the Finns through the back half of the period, but the game was well and truly out of reach for them. So the Americans came away with a comfortable win, and jump to the top of the tournament standings early.
Final: USA 6 – Finland 1
Next game up (FIN): Feb 15, 1:00 ET vs. Sweden
Next game up (USA): Feb 15, 8:00 ET vs. Canada
