It’s safe to say that the first-ever 4 Nations Face-Off tournament was a huge success for the National Hockey League and for the game of hockey.
Four proud nations competed, and two advanced to the championship. Only one was left standing.
After 68 minutes and 18 seconds of thrilling action Thursday night in Boston, the members of Team Canada — including Mark Stone, Shea Theodore, Adin Hill and Bruce Cassidy — were crowned champions.
In the end, Connor McDavid and Jordan Binnington were the heroes in overtime. The Blues goaltender made four outstanding saves in the first few minutes of extra time, and McDavid scored the tournament-clinching goal at 8:18.
The entire evening was an excellent showcase of the NHL’s talent and its passionate fans, and the atmosphere in TD Garden was electric from the start. American hockey legend Mike Eruzione served as the United States’ honorary captain and gave the players high-fives while donning a Johnny Gaudreau Team USA jersey, inciting raucous “USA” chants to explode from the stands.
Both Vegas Golden Knights captain Stone and Massachusetts native Jack Eichel were on the ice for their respective countries to start the game.
Unlike last week’s memorable matchup in Montreal, the championship game did not begin with three fights in the span of nine seconds. Instead, both teams settled in rather quickly, trading chances at both ends of the ice.
For the fourth time in four games in the tournament, Canada scored the first goal of the game, taking a 1-0 lead less than five minutes in.
Connor Hellebuyck had no chance on Nathan MacKinnon’s shot, which made its way through a multi-layered screen involving players from both teams. It was MacKinnon’s tournament-leading fourth goal.
Hellebuyck came up with a few sequences of clutch saves to keep it a one-goal game as Canada created chaos around the crease.
With 3:08 remaining in the opening frame, Brady Tkachuk knotted things up at 1-1, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Head coach Mike Sullivan had swapped Eichel and Auston Matthews on the top two lines, and Matthews responded quickly. Tkachuk shoveled Matthews’ wraparound up and over Binnington, who made his fourth consecutive start.
It was Tkachuk’s third goal of the tournament.
Jake Sanderson gave the Americans their first lead of the game with his first of the tournament 7:32 into the middle frame. Sanderson was a late addition to the lineup after filling in for the injured Charlie McAvoy, but the unlikely scorer collected a rebound in the slot and buried it to make it 2-1.
The only power play of the game came midway through the second period after Vincent Trocheck got whistled for tripping. Eichel’s stick broke after he used it to block a shot, leaving Team USA in a precarious position. However, it made no difference for Eichel, who used his skate to break up a pass as the U.S. got the clear.
But just over three minutes after the power play expired, Florida’s Sam Bennett skated in and lifted the puck over Hellebuyck’s shoulder to reset the score once again.
In a tightly-checked third period, both teams’ attention to detail kept the game tied. One of the many stellar individual efforts came from Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who made a diving block to break up a promising chance for Canada.
As the minutes ticked down in the third period, fans in attendance delivered a touching tribute as chants of “Johnny Hockey” rang out in honor of the late Gaudreau.
There were some anxious moments for the U.S. in the waning moments of the third, but neither team was able to net the game-winner before the end of regulation. It was only fitting that the first 4 Nations Face-Off championship game required sudden-death overtime.
After facing extensive criticism and doubt, it was Binnington’s time to shine. He made four outstanding saves in the first five minutes of overtime, three of which came off the stick of Matthews.
Those saves proved to be the difference in the game.
Just over eight minutes into extra time, it was none other than McDavid who lifted Canada to victory, collecting a feed from Mitch Marner in the slot and beating Hellebuyck top-shelf.
Eichel had been matching up against and shutting down McDavid for most of the game, but he was not on the ice for the game-winner.
Binnington made 20 consecutive saves after Sanderson’s go-ahead goal in the second, and McDavid finished things off with the game-winner for Canada.
MacKinnon was named MVP of the tournament with four goals.
Theodore was on the ice to collect his medal after the game, joining Stone, Hill and the rest of Team Canada. The Vegas rearguard was wearing a cast after getting injured in the first game of the tournament. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that Theodore has a broken wrist, which is a major blow to Vegas.
He was not the only player to suffer an injury in the tournament, which was the main downside to the fierce competition. Other key players with injuries include McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk, among others. Several of Canada’s players missed time in the tournament, including Cale Makar and Josh Morrissey, but both were due to illness, not injury.
Two players who did not miss any time were Eichel and Noah Hanifin. Hanifin was held without a point, while Eichel tallied four assists in four games, finishing tied for fourth in tournament scoring. Defenseman Zach Werenski led all players with six points (all assists).
In just a few days, all six Vegas participants will reunite as the Golden Knights continue their playoff push Saturday against Vancouver.
The Golden Knights will have to make up for the massive loss of Theodore, who was having a career season. His official timeline is unknown, but SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman expects his return will be “pretty close to the playoffs.”
Vegas (33-17-6) is coming off a very difficult stretch and will need to hit the ground running when the NHL resumes this weekend. The Golden Knights are currently second in the Pacific Division with 72 points through 56 games. Edmonton also has 72 points but has the edge with a game in hand, while Los Angeles sits seven points behind with three games in hand over Vegas.
After hosting the Canucks on Saturday, the Golden Knights will square off against the Kings in Los Angeles on Monday before wrapping up the month Thursday against Chicago.