Saturday's Canada/USA matchup at the 4 Nations Face-Off was widely anticipated for a number of reasons. For starters, there hasn't been a best-on-best hockey tournament in nearly a decade, when many of Canada's and the US's top players were youngsters playing for Team North America (remember that?) during that last tournament. In addition, throw in the geopolitical tensions resulting from a certain polarizing US president threatening tariffs while expressing his desire to make Canada the USA's 51 state, which has resulted in Canadian fans booing during the Star-Spangled Banner. That perfect storm led to a start to this game that won't be forgotten about for a long time.

BRANDON HAGEL AND MATTHEW TKACHUK DROP GLOVES AT PUCK DROP 😱

📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/Agc8UN3fIo

— ESPN (@espn) February 16, 2025

As if you needed one more reason to be invested in this tournament. This bad blood that could carry over not only to a potential 4 Nations Final rematch, but also into future Tampa Bay/Florida rematches, including the playoffs. This could be a good time to mention that the Lightning and Panthers face each other on March 3 and then on April 15, if you want to place some bets. I had never taken Brandon Hagel to be a fighter, but he did have one last season. Good on him for standing up to Matthew Tkachuk.

NOW BRADY TKACHUK AND SAM BENNETT ARE THROWING HAYMAKERS 🔥

THIS IS USA-CANADA HOCKEY 😱 pic.twitter.com/TlqEfR0uIL

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2025

Not to be outdone by his older brother, Brady Tkachuk decided to chuck knuckles with Sam Bennett. These are two players with plenty of bangers league value, so the fact that these two are fighting shouldn't be nearly as much of a surprise as the timing of the fight itself. Watching the Tkachuks high-five each other in the penalty box is quite a sight. They're the Hanson brothers but with much more skill. They play the wrestling heel role to a tee.

WE'VE GOT A THIRD FIGHT NINE SECONDS INTO THE GAME

JT MILLER AND COLTON PARAYKO 🚨 pic.twitter.com/EcYyGPl8Ir

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2025

Hey, we had a little bit of hockey before the hat trick of fights could be completed. 6-1, 218 lb. J.T. Miller seemed to bite off more than he could chew by taking on the 6-6, 228 lb. Colton Parayko. Is Elias Pettersson smiling about this somewhere in the Sweden camp?

The hockey players stuck to hockey after that. Five minutes into the first period, Connor McDavid broke the ice with a true McDavid special. No one in hockey can stop him when he gets into that top gear.

CANADA STRIKES FIRST 🇨🇦

CONNOR MCDAVID SCORES HIS FIRST OF THE #4NATIONS FACE-OFF 🚨 pic.twitter.com/MU2rqoDRMm

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 16, 2025

Unfortunately, that was Canada's only goal of the game. Jake Guentzel tied the game several minutes after McDavid's goal, while Dylan Larkin scored the eventual game-winner in the second period.

DYLAN LARKIN, MICHIGAN MAN

THE USA HAVE TAKEN THE LEAD 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/t5MGZBbQdf

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2025

Guentzel scored his second goal of the game and third goal of the tournament with an empty-netter late in the third period to seal a 3-1 win for the Americans. His third goal leads all players in the tournament, and his five shots in this game led players from both teams. Surprisingly, Guentzel had never represented the USA in an international tournament prior to the 4 Nations.

Connor Hellebuyck was solid in net, stopping 25 of 26 shots he faced in the win.

Some other stats from the game:

Brady Tkachuk led all players with six hits, while Charlie McAvoy and Anthony Cirelli each had five hits.

Jaccob Slavin led all players in icetime with 25:36, while Brock Faber was not far behind with 25:19. Both US defensemen had strong games, finishing with a plus-3 and three blocked shots.

Sidney Crosby's 26-game unbeaten streak while playing for Team Canada came to an end. That's a span of 15 years that includes games from the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, the 2015 World Hockey Championship, the 2016 World Cup, and the first game of this 4 Nations tournament.

Cale Makar was scratched just before puck drop due to illness, with the recently summoned Thomas Harley placed into the lineup. Harley was not allowed to participate at the morning skate as per tournament rules because Makar participated. This seems like an unnecessary rule that needs to be changed for future tournaments. For anyone saying that Canada would have won if Makar had played, the US is without Quinn Hughes for the whole tournament. Certainly, those two players could have made the game even better.  

From what I saw, Jordan Binnington was okay, just not spectacular. He looks like he could have stopped the first goal, but it's not fair to blame this loss entirely on Binnington, especially when Canada scored only one goal. I would think Binnington starts Monday's game against Finland, which Canada would have to win in regulation in order to secure a spot in Thursday's championship game.

With the win, the Americans have clinched their spot in the championship game. A Sweden regulation win over the US (who has nothing to play for in that game) would eliminate Canada if Canada does not secure a three-point regulation win. Matthew Tkachuk appeared to be playing through a lower-body injury later in the game, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is rested for Monday's game. A Tkachuk injury is also worth keeping an eye on in fantasy leagues.

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Mikael Granlund scored the game-winning goal at 1:49 of overtime to give Finland a 4-3 win over Sweden earlier on Saturday.

MIKAEL GRANLUND WINS IT FOR FINLAND IN OVERTIME! 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮 #4Nations pic.twitter.com/QpqTYRtGKG

— NHL (@NHL) February 15, 2025

Granlund's OT winner was his first goal of the 4 Nations tournament. Since being traded to Dallas from San Jose, Granlund has four assists in four games. He has averaged just over 17 minutes per game while his main even-strength linemates have been Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment. Both his icetime and his power-play time have dropped as expected with the Stars, but he at least has some decent linemates in Duchene (the Stars' leading scorer) and Marchment.

Fantasy Take: Granlund Swims to the Stars

Anton Lundell, Mikko Rantanen, and Aleksander Barkov scored Finland's other goals in this game. Barkov appeared to be dealing with a possible ankle injury after he tried to kick the puck during the second period. It appeared to be a minor injury, but something to keep an eye on anyway.

Playing in front of his home fans in Montreal, Patrik Laine led the Finns with two points – both assists.

After Juuse Saros struggled in Finland's opener against the US, Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves to backstop the Finns to victory. Lankinen has played in more games and in bigger games than I'm sure he thought he would this season.

On a Finnish defense lacking in NHL depth, Esa Lindell logged 28:20 in this game while also blocking four shots. Niko Mikkola was next with 25:50.

Mika Zibanejad, Rasmus Dahlin, and Erik Karlsson scored the goals for Sweden. Zibanejad led all players in this game with six shots, while Dahlin led all players in this game with six blocked shots.

Linus Ullmark replaced Filip Gustavsson in net for Sweden to start the second period. Gustavsson had allowed two goals on four shots in the first period. After the game, Swedish coach Sam Hallam (whoa Black Betty!) said that Gustavsson was not feeling well and the decision to change goalies was not performance-related.

Standings after Saturday's games:

USA 6 points

Canada 2 points

Finland 2 points

Sweden 2 points

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The Top 100 Roto Rankings for February were posted earlier today. Feel free to refer to the rankings to compare players. I'd love to discuss the rankings, so leave a comment below or find me on my social media below. Or if you're using this time to take a break from your fantasy roster (like I sort of am), have a look later – at least sometime before mid-March, when the next update will appear.

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