The USA will be in Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off championship game but we will have to wait for Monday’s doubleheader in Boston to find out who will face them in the final – with Canada, Finland and Sweden all still in contention for the final spot.
* With a regulation win against Canada on Saturday, USA not only clinched a spot in the championship game on Thursday – the third time they have reached the final of an NHL International Tournament – but also first place in the round-robin portion of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
* After a riveting four games in Montreal, the 4 Nations Face-Off now shifts to TD Garden in Boston for the back half of the tournament, which includes a Presidents’ Day doubleheader on Monday that opens with Canada-Finland (1 p.m. ET) and closes with Sweden-USA (8 p.m. ET) – both on TNT, Max, truTV, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
USA have clinched a berth in the 4 Nations Face-Off final and first in the overall standings through the round-robin portion of the tournament.
* If either Canada or Finland earn a regulation win in Monday’s 1 p.m. ET game in Boston, they will advance to the final to face USA.
* If either Canada or Finland win Monday’s early game in overtime or shootout, there is still a path for that team or Sweden to make the final.
4 NATIONS NUGGETS
A packed doubleheader of international best-on-best hockey provided a bevy of notes, including a sample below and even more in Saturday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates.
* Connor McDavid reached a max skating speed of 22.67 mph, just before he entered the left circle, before scoring the game’s first goal. He ranks second in the NHL with 57 bursts of 22+ mph so far in the 2024-25 regular season, behind Canadian teammate Nathan MacKinnon (64).
* Canadiens forward and crowd favorite Patrik Laine (0-2—2) was the only player with multiple points in the Finland-Sweden contest, both of which came in the opening frame. He became the first Finnish player with a multi-point game at an NHL International Tournament since Kimmo Timonen (0-2—2 vs. Germany at 2004 WCH) and the first with a multi-point period since Ossi Vaananen (1-1—2 vs. Sweden at 2004 WCH).
* Each of Sweden’s last four NHL International Tournament games have required overtime dating to their loss against North America in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey round robin. Sweden has played in six of the 13 all-time NHL International Tournaments games that have required extra time, which marks the second-highest total among all teams behind Canada (8 GP).
* Kevin Lankinen, who manned Finland’s crease after Juuse Saros did so in their tournament opener Thursday, made 21 saves including one on Adrian Kempe just before the overtime winner. Lankinen is the only undrafted goaltender on a 4 Nations Face-Off roster and made his NHL debut two seasons after backstopping Finland to a gold medal at the 2019 World Championship.
