4 Nations Tournament

[Rick Davis]

I was watching YouTube videos during the break and missed 2 goals!

 

[DaveG]

jeeeeeeez this got out of hand fast

 

[Rick Davis]

Brady Boy!

 

[Tryamw]

Brady again

 

[Brock Anton]

Brady Tkachuk coming out party. Dude is having a game.

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

FULL TKACHUK

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

Slavo is such a stud on defense.

 

[Brock Anton]

Slavo is such a stud on defense.

He’s gotta feel so good playing with Faber and not the corpse of Brent Burns.

 

[Wolfpuck]

He’s gotta feel so good playing with Faber and not the corpse of Brent Burns.

Night and f***ing day.

Tulsky, work your nerd magic.

 

[Rick Davis]

Wow that was a really impressive scuffle there Suomi..

 

[Brock Anton]

As a side, I do with we could’ve still found a way to get JT Miller. He would’ve been the perfect #2C for Rod.

 

[Rick Davis]

M. Tkachuk!

 

[Tryamw]

Another Tkachuk

 

[chaz4hockey]

Aho and Mikko have been invisible with Haula having more presence.

 

[CandyCanes]

Rantanen 0 shots that game.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Rantanen 0 shots that game.

Wauchusen (sp) just called him out on that.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The stench of Carolina offensive inefficiency is all over this game

Tonight the Americans on this board learned what it feels like to watch the Canes as an opponent.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I’m not sure what to make of that game. I imagine Finland missing 3 defensemen that were expected to play for the team might be a big story. Losing talent in the backend like that hurts both the offense and the defense. Though it was a 2-1 game late in the 2nd, so who knows?

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

Wauchusen (sp) just called him out on that.

I'm curious about his health. I read that he didn't participate in the morning skate and obviously he sat out the last Canes game before the break. Honestly wish he wasn't playing in this at all, but whatever. Hopefully it's just something minor.

 

[BadgerCane58]

God Emily Kaplan is irritating

Not as bad as Hextall.

 

[Lempo]

I’m not sure what to make of that game. I imagine Finland missing 3 defensemen that were expected to play for the team might be a big story. Losing talent in the backend like that hurts both the offense and the defense. Though it was a 2-1 game late in the 2nd, so who knows?

No practice together and gelling as a team, coming in from 8.5 years of no best-on-best international hockey. Most of these guys have as of lately had something else on their schedule in April-May that has kept them away from the Team Finland shenanigans in the Skoda Cup also.

The point being that Team Finland especially has this far relied on the "Our Game" playing style and all the players have been more or less on the same page because they all have been indoctrinated to it from the junior level. But now, those 2016 tourneys were pretty much the last time this age cohort has got to refresh it.

 

[The Faulker 27]

The Finns looked fine through 2. I had to step away and didn’t watch the start of the 3rd but checked the score and it was 4-1 so figured why bother. 0 shots for Aho and Rantanen is a little disappointing to see. ESPN shows 0 shots for TT but I swear I saw him throw a couple on net. I guess they didn’t require saves. Regardless, he looked pretty good last night.

 

[chaz4hockey]

This is a good roster of forwards and certainly had their chances in first 2 periods.....

The challenge is D but still NHL players:

 

[A Star is Burns]

I thought Rantanen was in the o zone a good bit and good on the boards at times, but he couldn't get any shots off and fumbled pucks he normally wouldn't regularly. Probably still banged up.

Aho wasn't super noticeable to me other than the pass on the two on one he should have shot and maybe a time or two on the kill.

Finland needs more from many guys but those two are high on the list. But they did keep it competitive for a good while.

USA can definitely win this thing. I think they'll be more fun to watch against other teams.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

USA plays an absolutely brutalizingly good game. They are stout defensively. As predicted, getting through the wall of Slavin/Fox/McAvoy/Werenski/Faber/Hanifin is just insane. Faber and Hanifin had some bad moments (for Faber I think it was just timidness with the big boys), but even still, those guys are #1Ds. And if you get through them, you still have Hellebucyk to score on.

The US's defense is so stout you were going to have a great top 7 no matter what. What they did smart was they chose a bunch of assholes and skilled power forwards to score goals in a playoff-style atmosphere. I'd much rather have a Brady Tkachuk than a Clayton Keller in these tight games. The team has loads of snarl and tenacity with the forwards: Kreider, JT Miller, Tkachuks, Nelson, Trocheck. Auston Matthews I thought was outstanding. He didn't score, but he looks to me like consistently the most dangerous forward.

It's hard to find weaknesses in Team USA's group. I think for Canada to beat them they'll have to have a good powerplay, get the goonier US forwards to commit stupid penalties, and exploit some of our more 1-dimensional forwards like Kyle Connor and Jake Guentzel.

Good Lord the backup goalies are Oettinger and Swayman. I can't remember the US roster looking *on paper* this good since, ever.