Here are some thoughts from an instant classic 3-1 win for Team USA over Team Canada at the Bell Centre on Saturday night with all eyes around the hockey world watching this one as the world’s best hockey players were going full tilt for bragging rights:
"That was one of the best experiences of my life -- just an unbelievable hockey game," said Dylan Larkin to reporters after it was all over. "What a start, and credit to those guys for answering the bell. And the crowd, just a great night for our sport and a great night for this rivalry."
That’s a big key right there. Just like the NHL struck gold with the outdoor Winter Classic almost 20 years ago, they have done it again with a 4 Nations Faceoff tournament where everybody involved has brought their absolute best.
Perhaps someday something like this can become a permanent replacement for an NHL All-Star weekend that has become a boring, half-hearted spectacle where league thought leaders continually try to invent ways to make it more compelling. But for now, it’s become something else that the league can market as a classic NHL event, and an excellent undercard for next winter’s Olympic games in Italy.
Here are some thoughts from Saturday night’s instant classic with the hope that we can get Canada and US in a Thursday night rematch at the Garden in the championship game:
1. I don’t care if the finicky Montreal fans didn’t approve. I don’t care if people call me a hockey Neanderthal. I don’t care if some puck-talking heads say there should be no place for fighting in international hockey play. The first nine seconds of the USA/Canada game were as intense and awesome as anybody could hope for and gave modern-day fans a window into what the game used to be like on a more regular basis but couldn’t possibly be like on the regular anymore. Matthew Tkachuk dropped the gloves with Brandon Hagel, then Brady Tkachuk tangled with Sam Bennett and then JT Miller kept it right on going picking a fight with the massive Colton Parayko. The three spirited fights in nine seconds immediately raised the intensity level to new heights in this tournament and set the backdrop for an amazing game that followed afterward. It was also the perfect cathartic response after TV cameras showed the elder Tkachuk brother seething on the ice while listening to the Montreal fans boo the Star-Spangled Banner.
the Tkachuk brothers are absolute psychopaths. grading each other’s scraps in the penalty box after planning it in a group chat earlier in the day. glad they’re on our side. shoutout Keith pic.twitter.com/EHHYuEYM1d
— Conor Hurley (@CHurls13) February 16, 2025
2. Charlie McAvoy has experienced an up-and-down season for the Boston Bruins, but there is no doubt that the B’s have been very good when he’s been at his best for the Black and Gold. This humble hockey writer is not sure he’s played a better game this season than last night, though it started with him getting burned by a full-speed Connor McDavid for Canada’s first goal of the game. McAvoy got caught flat-footed and then didn’t have enough time to recover as McDavid was burning up the middle of the ice with his patented cross-over attack. But in the ensuing minutes, McAvoy dusted himself off and physically punished McDavid with a number of hits, including this one that turned the tide of the game. McAvoy dumped McDavid as he mashed him against the sideboards, finished his hit and then Team USA proceeded to go down the ice and tie things up on a leaky goal allowed from Jordan Binnington. McAvoy (five hits) and Brady Tkachuk (six hits) led the way in a bruising, winning effort that showed exactly how Team USA is going to play while trying to win this thing. Saturday night was McAvoy when he’s at his very best and he was absolutely that for the Americans in a big-time game.
Charlie McAvoy unloading on Connor McDavid pic.twitter.com/fazdfDaY60
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) February 16, 2025
3. Connor Hellebuyck was outstanding. PK Subban on ESPN had been amongst the most vocal critics questioning whether the Winnipeg Jets goalie, and UMass-Lowell alum, could handle the pressure in a high-stakes international tournament. But Hellebuyck showed on Saturday night exactly what he was made of while absolutely standing on his head at times in the second and third periods when Canada was attacking with their always dangerous speed and skill. It felt like Team USA was just hanging on a bit in the third period when Team Canada outshot them by an 8-4 margin prior to the empty net goal, but Hellebuyck made every stop. The only play he was beaten on was a filthy McDavid top-shelf backhander on a play where the USA defense allowed him a seam right down the middle of the ice that he gladly seized. That one was not on the goalie even a little bit. Binnington, at the other end, was solid enough after allowing the first goal, but that’s one that really shouldn’t have gone in. And one soft goal in a game like that one is one too many.
4. People wondered why Steve Stamkos was left looking for a new NHL home after last season, but they are perhaps wondering no more after watching Jake Guentzel absolutely shine on the national stage. Two goals in a huge 3-1 win over Team Canada as the game’s top star and three goals in the tournament thus far as the biggest offensive weapon for the Red, White and Blue. This after piling up 27 goals and 54 points in 54 games in his first season with the Tampa Bay Lightning shows exactly how good he is and why Sidney Crosby was so livid with the Pittsburgh Penguins when they traded Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes ahead of the deadline.
5. Boy, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid aren’t nearly as effective when defenders are on top of them pounding them physically throughout a game, are they? Take away time and space and even the greatest players go quiet, particularly if they get hit hard a few times early in the proceedings and have that sitting in the back of their mind.
6. I think "Freebird" is sticking around as the USA Hockey theme song at all international events. Boy, that is going to become nightmare fuel for other countries as the Americans step on them on their way to victory.
I was so hoping someone would put this to music but choosing Freebird was a stroke of genius 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/g194IGNcoi
— sea_glass15 (@Sea_Glass1115) February 16, 2025