The 4 Nations Face-Off matchup between the U.S. and Canada had sports fans everywhere talking about the anthem booing and the three subsequent fights in the first 9 seconds of the game.
Lost in that is what the U.S. had to overcome to win the matchup and advance to the final.
Canada’s Connor McDavid opened the scoring soon after when the electricity was at its highest. Canada hoped to steal one and send their fans home happy, but the U.S. looked to reset the tone immediately after, and the Americans believed Charlie McAvoy did just that.
McAvoy put a big hit on McDavid in the first period, and 19 seconds later, Jake Guentzel got the equalizer past Jordan Binnington. Matthew Tkachuk said it was McAvoy’s hit that revitalized the team.
“That also is a message-sending moment — probably one of the plays of the game,” the Florida Panthers star said. “They just scored a goal, the building was rocking and Charlie comes there and pops McDavid, like one of the hardest hits I’ve seen.”
Tkachuk added that McAvoy’s teammates “followed” McAvoy’s aggressiveness afterward.
“That hit Charlie threw on (McDavid) was kind of a game-changer,” U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski said. “He’s been known to do that. He’s great with his size, he’s really good defensively and I thought that was a perfectly timed hit to get our team going in the right direction.”
Dylan Larkin put the U.S. up 2-1 in the second period, and Guentzel later put one in an empty net and the U.S. won the game.
McDavid still held out hope Canada can bounce back and get to the final for a rematch.
“It was fast, tight-checking, competitive, emotional,” he said, via The Athletic. “It had everything you would want in a hockey game. It sucks it didn’t go our way, but this thing’s far from over.”
The U.S. will play Sweden and Canada will play Finland in the final games before the championship.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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