An unmarked Connor McDavid fired home the tournament-winning goal from the slot 8:18 into overtime to give Canada a hard-fought 3-2 win over the United States to end the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Florida Panthers were well-represented in the final as Sam Reinhart drew the secondary assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s game-opening goal 4:48 into the first period and Sam Bennett converted a nifty pass from Mitch Marner with six minutes remaining in the second period to tie the game at two apiece after Jake Sanderson had given the Yanks the lead earlier in the frame.
An ailing Matthew Tkachuk was limited to 6:47 of ice time and one shot on goal. Don’t expect Tkachuk to be in the lineup when the Panthers host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
Brady Tkachuk scored the first American goal late in the first period off an assist from Auston Matthews.
Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington made a super blocker save on Matthews early in the fourth period that ended up being huge as his team survived a bumpy start to the overtime before Marner found McDavid open in the slot for the winning strike.
This will get lost in the heroics of McDavid’s goal, Binnington save(s), and Marner’s two assists, so I will point out here that our boy Bennett was a force for Canada. In addition to his goal, he registered a game-high six shots and matched the younger Tkachuk with a game-high five hits.
Reinhart played 20:01 and was credited with three hits. He finished the tournament with four helpers.
The 4 Nations Face-Off was a great alternative to the All-Star Game. We need more best-on-best international hockey, and in particular, we need a summit series between the U.S. and Canada like the women have.