‘We want them again’: Canada fired up for USA revenge final
Anticipation for this dream championship has been swelling like border tensions and nasty weather, spiking with Saturday’s visceral mayhem in Montreal.
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BOSTON — “We want them again.”
Late Saturday night, Sam Bennett — only minutes removed from punching one Tkachuk and losing to a couple of them — was already setting a date for revenge on Thursday.
“I expect more of the same,” said Team Canada’s wrecking ball of the 4 Nations firecracker rematch we all wanted. “It’s the greatest rivalry in hockey.”
To the league and its players, the fans and the North American rightsholders, the swelling pool of hockey-related revenue and those who boo anthems and root for chaos (and to Mr. Bennett, specifically): Breathe relief. We got what we wanted.
The perfectly scripted final between the dominant hockey country and the fiercest threat to the throne goes 8 p.m. Thursday in Boston, and the cheapest ticket is going for $1,821.09 (Canadian).
“We’re obviously really excited about having another crack at these guys,” said Brad Marchand, after he and the Canadians survived the round robin with a 5-3 nail-biter over a spunky Team Finland. “It’s the matchup everybody wanted. So, it’s going to be an extremely intense game, one we’re all going to be looking forward to.”
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Anticipation for this dream championship has been swelling like border tensions and nasty weather, spiking with Saturday’s visceral mayhem in Montreal.
“That first game, it put everybody on notice that this wasn’t just a walk-in-the-park tournament, that this is something the players wanted and are taking very seriously.” U.S. captain Auston Matthews said.
“The last thing we wanted to do was go home today,” said Nathan MacKinnon, after a two-goal, plus-3 effort in Monday’s must-win. “We’d love to play them again. We feel like we could beat those guys.”
Devon Toews, MacKinnon’s teammate twice over, goes a step further: “We expect to win.”
To that end, adjustments are necessary on Canada’s part, and those began to take shape in a victory over Finland that flipped from blowout to barely.
Power plays have been tough to come by here, and coach Jon Cooper wasn’t getting enough offence from Canada’s star-studded top six.
Cup winners Brayden Point (a natural centre) and Mark Stone (a smart passer and willing digger) were promoted to top centre Connor McDavid’s wings — a move that paid off almost instantly, as McDavid slung a puck bar-and-in to open Monday’s scoring. The plucky Point also scored.
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This dropped Sam Reinhart to MacKinnon’s second unit, and the Florida Panther rewarded the Lightning coach with a three-assist show.
It also pushed Mitch Marner — who began on McDavid’s line and was Game 1’s OT hero — all the way down to 12:46 in ice time, his tournament low.
Maybe a McDavid-Marner combo looked attractive on Cooper’s bar napkin, but both playmakers prefer to control pace with the puck on their blades. It was a miss.
This is pressure-cooked trial-and-error with scant room for the latter.
“You see which guys are going and which are not,” Cooper explained. “I thought Pointer would be a good fit with (McDavid and Stone), and he was.”
Yet despite the insta-chemistry of Cooper’s rejigged top six — which drummed up a 4-0 lead by the 25:03 mark and would generate all of Canada’s goals — three unanswered goals by the Finns in the final seven minutes gave the favourites a fright with their second goalie yanked.
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“It got tense there,” Point said.
“It was ugly,” McDavid upped. “Ugly way to win the game, for sure. Closer than we would’ve liked.”
“If anything, we got great video if we play five-on-six Thursday,” Cooper quipped.
And a great look at a leader saying enough is enough.
With Finland pressing hard for a miracle OT, Sidney Crosby crushed Mikael Granlund with a hit at centre ice before burying a 100-footer into an empty net.
“You want to meet your hero, and you want them to be your hero. Honestly, a lot of times, it doesn’t happen,” Cooper said. “Well, the light that you look at Sidney Crosby is still the same light when you meet him.
“In our country, he walks on water.”
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So, we gaze across the North End’s frozen causeway to Thursday, which will be hard-checking and claustrophobic.
Canada must solve a locked-in Connor Hellebuyck, manage the puck better through the neutral zone, and sustain pressure with a fiercer forecheck.
Mistakes will get amplified. Heroes will be born. Knuckles and sphincters will be clenched.
“Everybody’s going to be really fired up for it and excited,” Cale Makar said. “And there’s probably not a better city in the U.S. to have this game in.”
This place will be loud and angry and there’s nowhere else a hockey lover would rather be.
“We came here for this purpose,” Cooper said. “And now it’s win one more game. It just happens to be against the team that beat us after the fireworks that went off on Saturday night. Should be a pretty good made-for-TV event.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Makar went from ill to ill.
The Canadians are now 2-0 with their No. 1 defenceman in the lineup, and his newfound health — which should only improve with another two days to recuperate — should be the top reason for belief that Team Canada can reverse the result in the rematch.
“We get another crack at them now,” Makar grins. “You dream of that as a kid playing in Canada against the U.S.”
Makar clocked a team-high 23:57 Monday, controlled play as usual, ripped four shots on goal, and slotted his fellow defencemen into more appropriate roles.
“He’s a star,” Cooper says. “He can play half the game, and he’s a one-man breakout. He just glides out there on the ice. But his reads are phenomenal. I mean, it’s a luxury, let’s be honest. I was so glad to have him back.”
• For better or worse, the loyalty to Jordan Binnington is only growing.
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With Jake Oettinger getting Monday’s nod for the Americans, Binnington survives as the tournament’s only goalie to hold sole possession of his nation’s net for all three games.
His save percentage isn’t sparkling (.892), but he’s made some big saves and helped eliminate Scandinavia.
Turning to Adin Hill now — after the Golden Knight will have gone two full weeks between starts — is not an option.
• Canada started the Finland game with the ultimate All-Jerk* Line of Marchand, Bennett, and Travis Konecny. (*On the ice only. Lovely men to chat with.)
Cooper on Marchand: “His heart’s the shape of a maple leaf.”
• With Finland acting as Monday’s “home” team and taking over the Boston Bruins dressing room, it is bizarre seeing Marchand and Canada GM Don Sweeney being restricted to the cramped visitors’ quarters.
“Different being on the other side of it,” Marchand says.
• Bummer that fans who bought tickets to Monday’s USA-Sweden contest will be watching an exhibition that means nothing more than pride. Hope they also bought a pair for Thursday.
