Tkachuk brothers’ swagger leads United States to rout over Finland
Thursday’s game against Finland looked like it would be a nail-biter until Mike Sullivan united the Tkachuk brothers in the second period. What ensued was the type of chaos these two were born to deliver on this stage.
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MONTREAL — It was one, two, three whacks at the puck from Brady Tkachuk that settled a nation’s nerves and kickstarted an American rout over the feisty Finns.
It didn’t appear Thursday’s game was headed in that direction before Tkachuk’s relentless effort tied things up some three minutes after Finland’s Henri Jokiharju stunned USA with the strike that made it 1-0. In fairness, it looked like it would be a nail-biter to the end until coach Mike Sullivan united Tkachuk with his brother, Matthew, 10:06 into the second period.
What immediately ensued was the type of chaos these two were born to deliver on this stage — four consecutive scoring chances on their first shift, leading to them finishing with two goals apiece in this 6-1 win for Team USA.
Team Canada exercised its nuclear threat of pairing Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in Wednesday’s opening win over Sweden at this 4 Nations Face-Off, and Team USA turned to its apocalyptic option of putting Keith Tkachuk’s sons together in Thursday’s game.
He was one of the heroes of the USA’s 1996 World Cup of Hockey win, and they only confirmed they were genetically programmed to follow in his footsteps in their first action on the international stage together.
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Sullivan knew what to expect from the Tkachuks.
“They’re two of the better power forwards in the league,” Sullivan said on Wednesday. “They drag their respective teams into the fight, so to speak, and nobody did that better than their dad. When I played with Keith, he was one of the best power forwards in the game. These guys are following right in his footsteps.”
Keith Tkachuk looked on from the stands as Team USA followed these guys right into Juuse Saros’s crease, which probably should’ve been vacated in favour of backup Kevin Lankinen after Matthew Tkachuk scored on him with a snapper from 57 feet out in the 15th second of the third period.
That’s as far away as Matthew got from that net when he was in Team Finland’s zone with the puck on his stick.
He added an assist to his sheet and was named player of the game, while Brady had the late-and-great Johnny Gaudreau’s sweater awarded to him by his teammates for his influence on the outcome.
“We talk about American attitude, that swagger,” said Sullivan, “he might personify that.”
With the two goals, with five shots on net, with eight attempts and eight hits, you can take the word “might” out of that sentence.
This was Brady strutting out to Hulk Hogan’s theme music and body-slamming the Suomi before dropping the leg on them and marching out of the ring waving the American flag.
We’d call it a rather authoritative debut in a pro game worth more than two points for the 25-year-old, who was asked about all the lessons served up by his Stanley Cup-winning brother and responded, “We’ve always joked that I think I lead the league in most playoff games watched without playing.”
Brady wasn’t kidding when he added that these last few days with Team USA have “been the best experience in my hockey life.”
The experience was unquestionably enriched the second he and Matthew lined up for an offensive-zone face-off with Jack Eichel halfway through this game.
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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+.
“I’m not going to lie,” said Sullivan. “When I was thinking about line combinations and having discussions with our coaching staff, the combination did come up of Brady and Matthew.”
When that line came to life in the second period, so did the Americans.
Matthew’s goal was the first of four they scored in the third period to run Finland out of the rink.
He had eight of their 32 shots in the game, and again, Brady had eight of their 32 hits in it.
“They’re special players,” said J.T. Miller, who was on the line with Brady and Matthew Boldy when the former tied the game early. “They bring a different part to the game than a lot of people do, and they thrive in moments like these. It’s nice for them to chip in offensively, but they bring that every game.”
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It’s been what the Tkachuks have done since they were dreaming up moments like this in their driveway as kids in St. Louis.
Another monumental one is on deck, with the marquee matchup of this tournament set for Saturday night.
“There’s a big buildup to it,” said Brady. “The U.S. versus Canada, it’s bigger than just the guys on the ice. There’s so many people — past, present, future down the road — that are just so excited for it. We’ve been talking about that game especially, and I’m really excited to experience it. It’s going to be a long couple days before it happens, but the excitement’s going to be at an all-time high.”
