By The Numbers: Setting up blockbuster 4 Nations Face-Off final
It’s been 15 years since Canada and USA last met in the final of a best-on-best men’s hockey tournament at the highest level. Emily Sadler looks at the numbers between the cross-border rivals to help set up what’s sure to be a thrilling showdown with gold on the line.
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It’s been 15 years — almost to the day — since Canada and the United States last met in the final of a best-on-best men’s hockey tournament at the highest level of the game.
Sidney Crosby’s golden goal to edge the Americans in overtime at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games is now firmly entrenched in Canadian hockey lore. What happens Thursday night when these neighbouring nations meet again could be, too.
This cross-border rivalry has a few decades of history, but for most players hitting the ice in this hotly anticipated showdown, it brings a completely new experience.
We don’t yet know how the story will go Thursday night, but we can look at the numbers between these squads — both historically, and in this tournament — to help set up what’s sure to be a thrilling showdown with gold on the line.
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4 Nations Face-Off on Sportsnet
The inaugural edition of the 4 Nations Face-Off is here with the top players from Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States going head-to-head in the highly anticipated best-on-best event. Watch all the games on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Canada vs. USA: By the numbers
1-1-0-1: Canada’s record after round-robin play, enough to advance to the 4 Nations Face-Off final. They opened the tournament with an overtime win over Sweden, then lost to the Americans in regulation on Saturday before winning against the Finns in regulation to advance. Comparatively, Team USA’s record after the round-robin was 2-0-0-1.
2: American goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has lived up to expectations in stars and stripes. He’s been the class of the crease this tournament, allowing just two goals in two games combined this tournament. (Backup Jake Oettinger got the start against Sweden Monday night, with the Americans having already booked their trip to the final.)
2.6: Canada’s Jordan Binnington, meanwhile, has averaged 2.6 goals against per game through three matchups, allowing eight total. While he’s come up clutch on several occasions, all eyes will be on him Thursday night.
3: Binnington has, though, been known to play well in Boston. He backstopped the Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019, winning three at TD Garden against the Bruins, including a clutch Game 7 performance.
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3: Canada, which went 2-1 in the round robin, has scored the game-opening goal in all three of its matchups this tournament — Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring against the Swedes last week while Connor McDavid was first to score against both the U.S. and Finland. Comparatively, Team USA has scored the game-opener just once — Chris Kreider took a mere 35 seconds to light the lamp against Sweden Monday night, a game they went on to lose. (Overall, in 20 international meetings between Canada and the U.S., the team that scores first is 15-4-1.)
3: Canada’s MacKinnon and America’s Jake Guentzel share the tournament lead in goals, with three each. (Finland’s Mikael Granlund also has three.) Two of Guentzel’s goals came against Canada in last Saturday’s showdown, as Crosby’s former Penguins linemate scored the opening and closing goals of that game.
3-1: The final score of that round-robin meeting between Canada and the U.S. Saturday night, favouring Team USA.
4: Canada and the United States have met four times in best-on-best international tournament finals, with the Canadians claiming gold in three. The two most recent gold-medal meetings took place on the Olympic stage — eight years prior to Crosby’s golden goal in Vancouver, Canada defeated the U.S. in Salt Lake City, skating over a Lucky Loonie at centre ice. (“Joe! Sakic! Scores!”, for those who fondly remember Bob Cole’s perfect call of the game-sealing marker.) The Americans’ lone golden victory against Canada at the senior level came during the 1996 World Cup, which featured a best-of-three format.
5: Canada’s Crosby and American Zach Werenski enter Thursday’s game tied for points in the tournament, with five each. Crosby has one goal and four assists through three games, while Werenski has five helpers.
6: Of the NHL’s current top 10 points leaders, six hit the ice Thursday night in the 4 Nations final: Canada’s Nathan McKinnon (first in NHL points), Connor McDavid (fourth), and Mitch Marner (fifth), as well as Americans Kyle Connor (sixth), Jack Eichel (seventh) and Jack Hughes (10th).
7: As the NHL’s top Canadian and American stars gather, seven NHL squads — Boston, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vegas, and Winnipeg — have a little extra rooting interest with at least one player on each roster.
7: There’s a lot of leadership on the ice when these teams meet. Seven NHL club captains will suit up Thursday, with four Canadians (Crosby, McDavid, Stone, Marchand) and three Americans (Matthews, Brady Tkachuk, Larkin).
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9: Nearly nine years since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, nine players who skated for Team North America now get to suit up for their side for the first time: Canada’s MacKinnon, McDavid, and Colton Parayko; and Americans Eichel, Hellebuyck, Auston Matthews, Dylan Larkin, J.T. Miller, and Vincent Trocheck. That Under-25 squad was a fun experiment, but it’s hard not to wonder at all the what-ifs had we gotten to see these stars representing their nations much earlier in their careers.
9: That’s the number of seconds it took for Canada and the U.S. to re-ignite their best-on-best rivalry Saturday night, with three fights breaking out within the first nine seconds of the game. A game many years in the making, totally lived up to the hype and has everyone wondering what’s in store Thursday night in Boston with a gold medal on the line.
10: Both Canada and U.S. finished round-robin play with 10 total goals scored. The big difference is in goals against, with Canada allowing nine while the U.S. allowed just four.
11: The Tkachuks bring hard hits and a ton of energy every time they hit the ice, and a lot of offensive pressure, too. The brothers share the tournament lead in shots, with 11 each, despite playing less than everyone else. (Matthew sat out Monday night, while Brady played just 1:55 in that game due to an early injury.)
12: Heading into the final, both Canada and the U.S. have gotten points from 12 different players. Canada has seven different goal-scorers — only MacKinnon and McDavid have multiple goals — while the Americans have six, with three multi-goal scorers (Guentzel and both Tkachuks).
14-5-1: History sides with Canada in this cross-border rivalry. In 20 overall meetings at the senior men’s level in best-on-best competition, Canada has a significant edge with 14 wins, five losses and a tie against USA.
23: Between the Canadian and U.S. rosters, 23 players have hoisted hockey’s top prize — 20 Canadians and three Americans.
26: Prior to Saturday’s round-robin loss to the Americans, Crosby had won 26 straight games while donning the Canadian sweater. (Seriously, he hadn’t lost a game in red and white since the round-robin stage of the 2010 Games.) After that loss, he’s now 45-6 all-time with Canada. Can he add one more to the win column?
26:02: Canada’s Cale Makar logs major minutes — it’s no wonder the alarm bells sounded when the team announced he wouldn’t be suiting up last Saturday against Team USA in round-robin play due to illness. He returned Monday against the Finns and enters Thursday’s final with the highest average TOI among all Canadian and American players.
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28: With an average age of 28 years old, Team USA has the youngest roster in this tournament. Defencemen Brock Faber and Jake Sanderson, both 22 years old, will be the youngest players on the ice on Thursday.
29.8: With an average age closing in on 30, Canada has the oldest roster. Veterans Crosby (37), Marchand (36) and Doughty (35) will be the oldest players on the ice on Thursday. They’re also the only players in this matchup who’ve experienced this kind of pressure on the international stage before.
37: This is an age-old rivalry, yes, but it’s also a new experience for most of the players suiting up on Thursday. Of the 40 players dressing for Thursday’s final, 37 are competing for their country in a best-on-best gold-medal final for the first time. Most of them got a taste of what to expect during Saturday’s raucous round-robin contest, and will now experience what happens when you add golden expectations to the mix. This is going to be really, really fun.
