McDavid the OT Hero As Canada Takes 4 Nations Face-Off Title 3-2 Over USA

The 4-Nations Championship game seemed destined to be another faceoff between Team USA and Team Canada. For Team USA to have a chance their success needs to start with their goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck who has only allowed two goals in two games in this mini tournament.

• Cale Makar is in the lineup for this game while Charlie McAvoy will be out. Two big changes for each team.
• Kyle Connor was a surprise scratch allowing Kreider to get another game in the tournament.
• Team USA's first line was Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck and Brock Nelson, the LIRR line.
• The honorary team captains for Team USA and Team Canada were Mike Eruzione and Wayne Gretzky.
• An unfortunate stat line for Auston Matthews was on full display. He has 0 goals in his last 8 games in both the 4-Nations Tournament and for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
• TD Garden did indeed boo the Canadian National anthem at first, but let the singer take the reins in what was probably the strangest rendition of their national anthem that I have heard in my thirty plus years.
• The difference in effort between the Canadian National anthem and the American National anthem was downright laughable. The Boston Pops orchestra walked out onto the ice with a genuine opera singer.

1st Period

• The first faceoff of the game was between Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. McDavid won.
• The pace was immediately electric and Team USA pushed in the first couple minutes. While there weren't any fights to open up the period, both teams were noticeably finishing their checks. One that stood out was Larkin on Toews or any of Brady Tkachuk's.
• An actual line of the commentator Sean McDonough was "big hit by Brady Tkachuk, that's getting redundant."
• Eichel created a great chance that led to a leaping rebound off of Binnington, but Parayko grabbed it and went the other way, leading to a 2 on 1 that Hellebuyck got in front of.
• Less than five minutes into the first period, Doughty moved the puck to Thomas Harley, who was only playing because Josh Morrissey was sick, and he moved into the offensive zone with space due to a Team USA line change. Harley passed the puck to Mackinnon who cut into the middle at the top of the circles and sneakily put it on net and over Hellebuyck's shoulder.

• Canada has scored the first goal in each of their games in the tournament.
• Team USA forced a few bad passes out of the zone leading to a turnover and pressure from Team Canada. One in particular that led to Seth Jarvis almost increasing Canada's lead was an awful pass from Chris Kreider.
• Ten minutes into the first, Canada was dominating at the faceoff circle. This was a strength of Team USA's throughout the tournament but with Canada winning the first 8 of 9 faceoffs they were losing the battle. Team USA then had a resurgence as soon as I wrote this and won five faceoffs in a row.
• Dylan Larkin had a partial breakaway but Travis Sanheim kept up with him, pushing him to the outside where he didn't get his best shot off.
• In a very similar play to Mackinnon's goal, Matt Boldy cut into the center by the tops of the circles, but instead of putting the puck on net as Mackinnon did, he looked for a pass and the play was broken up. While shots have been close to even up until this point of the period, Canada's opportunities were more dangerous.
• In the first period, Mike Sullivan adjusted his top line. He replaced Jack Eichel with Auston Matthews and it quickly showed results.
• In true garbage goal fashion, Team USA tied the game late in the first. Auston Matthews intercepted the puck and went for the wrap around while fighting off Cale Makar, the puck slid off his stick and Brady Tkachuk who was attacking the net deflected it in past the two Canadian players trying to slow him down.

2nd Period

• Anthony Cirelli beat Matthew Tkachuk for the first faceoff of the second.
• Thirty seconds in Auston Matthews skated tightly around the Canadian net and clipped Binnington who went down. No penalty on the play.
• Seeing Jacob Slavin play one on one defense against Connor McDavid is a thing of beauty. I was beginning to have flashbacks of McDavid undressing every single Rangers player to score a game winning goal, but Slavin played the body and nullified McDavid's fancy dekes.
• When JT Miller was chasing down a puck in the neutral zone, Sam Reinhart and Drew Doughty came together and he went down. The crowd booed hoping for a penalty, but the replay revealed the puck went off Doughty's stick and hit Miller in the face.
• I'm a known Ray Ferraro hater so tell me I'm being overly biased and critical, but he told a little anecdote on how Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk and Jack Rosolovic formed the highest scoring line in the United States development team's history. My thought was this belonged to Gabe Perreault, Will Smith, and Ryan Leonard. It'd make sense since Perreault holds the all time record for most points in a single season for the USNTDP and Will Smith is a close second.
• In a scary moment for Team USA, after a forecheck behind the net where Stone won the puck, Toews deflected the puck into Hellebuyck for a big rebound and Point barely missed putting it into the open net.
• In an offensive scrum, Hanifin threw the puck at the net and Hughes had his best chance of the tournament but somehow didn't score.
• Just when we thought there wouldn't be any fighting, a brawl between Brady Tkachuk and several Canadian players broke out. The players didn't drop their gloves, but Tkachuk dropped his stick and still threw a few gloved punches. No penalties on the play.
• Shortly after a questionable offsides call, Guentzel and Harley came together and delivered some cross checks to each other's upper torso. Still no penalties on the play, a trend that has been developing as there hasn't been a power play yet.
• Slavin blocked a pass in the defensive zone leading to Team USA rushing up the ice with the puck. Brady Tkachuk pressured Parayko behind the net, and Larkin retrieved the puck and sent it back to Werenski. He shot the puck and after a block, a scramble, and a failed pass by Matthews the puck bounced to Jake Sanderson who put the puck in the net.

• Lo and behold, the first penalty of the game goes to Vincent Trocheck who reached to try and swipe the puck from Bennett but missed and tripped him instead.
• During the penalty kill, Jack Eichel broke his stick leading to an even greater advantage for the Canadian power play. Canada cycled the puck and somehow Eichel was able to get his skate on the puck and break up a play.
• Shortly after Miller got the puck out of the zone and went in for a two on one. He made a difficult yet perfect saucer pass to Larkin over Makar's stick which led to a prime shorthanded chance that Binnington stopped. Team USA successfully killed off the penalty.
• A few minutes later Crosby had a wide open net with a fat juicy rebound popping right out to him, Jacob Slavin got there first and cleared the puck before Crosby could easily tie the game. He may not score many points, but Slavin is having himself an MVP caliber game from the defense he has played.
• Exactly fourteen minutes in, Marner danced into the offensive zone, pivoted and slid the puck over to Sam Bennett who had an open lane to the net and roofed it over the towering Connor Hellebuyck. Tie game.

• For what it's worth, JT Miller failed to receive a pass in the neutral zone which led to Marner breaking into the zone and the eventual tying goal.
• Matthew Tkachuk has been fighting through an injury this tournament and was missing substantial time in the second period.
• Kreider absolutely trucked Seth Jarvis. The difference in size between the two players was immediately noticeable. The rest of the team followed suit, with Brady Tkachuk continuing to do his best impression of a wrecking ball.
• Connor McDavid had the puck in the slot and somehow didn't score a goal. Hockey gods be praised.

3rd Period

• Auston Matthews beat Connor McDavid in the third period's opening faceoff.
• After a bad bounce and an even worse Canadian line change, Guentzel went in for a partial breakaway but this time was stopped by Binnington.
• After a faceoff win for Team Canada, Marner and Cirelli won the puck and got it to Makar who threw it at the net with Cirelli in front, the puck careened off the post.
• Jack Eichel had the puck pop out in front of a wide open Canadian net but he couldn't get to the puck first, with just under thirteen minutes to go the game remains tied.
• For a moment, it appeared Marchand would play a big role in spoiling the night for the Boston crowd, but Slavin made a terrific block and prevented a dangerous sequence from ever happening.
• As the third period was close to ending, it felt like both teams were playing a bit more conservatively.
• Eichel and Boldy broke into the zone and Eichel slid the puck over to a wide Boldy who forced a bad pass and the play was broken up. This is the second time Boldy unsuccessfully passed in the midst of a big chance.
• As the seconds wound down Canada pressed hard and things got scary for Team USA. Marner almost out waited Hellebuyck and passed to McDavid who had a wide open net to shoot at, but JT Miller made the extra effort and broke up what would have been the winning goal.
• Matthew Tkachuk, while on the bench, didn't play a single minute in the third period.

Overtime

• Auston Matthews beat Connor McDavid in the first faceoff of the overtime period.
• Eichel picked Mackinnon's pocket and put a bad angle shot on net that created a big rebound that went no where.
• Throughout the night you could hear the crowd, especially so when the referees made or didn't make decisions. There was a very obvious too many men play by Canada the crowd chastised the ref for not calling.
• Larkin and Guentzel had a small back and forth behind the net that led to a point blank chance for Auston Matthews, but Binnington came out on top once again.
• "It's 2019 all over again for Jordan Binnington at the TD Garden." This came right after Binnington had a flurry of phenomenal saves in a row. Right after this Matthews had his best shot of the tournament right after an offensive zone faceoff win, but Binnington gloved it down.
• In the American zone, the puck was cycled around by Team Canada. It went to Marner behind the net who passed it to a wide open Connor McDavid who beat Hellebuyck for the winning goal. Canada's dominance internationally continues.