MONTREAL — Team Finland was in good shape. The Finns started Thursday’s third period down 2-1.
But Team USA promptly turned a one-goal game into a 6-1 rout.
Fifteen seconds into the third, during a power play that carried over from the previous period because of an Olli Määttä hooking penalty, Matthew Tkachuk put the Americans up 3-1. Tkachuk’s long-distance shot skimmed off the stick of Niko Mikkola and fluttered past Juuse Saros.
Eleven seconds later, Saros, perhaps rattled by Tkachuk’s goal, opened up his five-hole enough to let Jake Guentzel sneak in a shot off the rush.
The Americans continued the offensive flurry with Brady Tkachuk scoring his second goal of the game at 3:00 to make it a 5-1 game. Matthew Tkachuk added a power-play goal.
The Finns play Sweden at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Americans play Canada on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Tkachuk brothers united
Kyle Connor, who opened the game as the No. 2 left wing, had a quiet start against Finland. Mike Sullivan, like all three coaches, has to ride the line of letting linemates settle in or change them up in search of improvement. In the second period, the Team USA coach went for the latter, dropping Connor to the third line in favor of Brady Tkachuk to ride with brother Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Eichel.
The move worked. After robust wall work by Connor and third-line mates J.T. Miller and Matt Boldy, Brock Faber settled the puck at the right point. As Boldy went in front, Faber sent a sifter on net. Boldy gained net-front position on Nikolas Matinpalo, stretched his stick across his body and got a piece of his Minnesota Wild teammate’s shot to deflect it past Saros, giving the U.S. a 2-1 lead.
It wasn’t the Americans’ only adjustment. Sullivan also changed his second and third defense pairs. He moved Faber up with Jaccob Slavin and dropped Adam Fox to the No. 3 pairing with Noah Hanifin.
Saros struggles
Saros has struggled for the Nashville Predators lately, but Finland coach Antti Pennanen put his faith in his ace regardless. His track record made him the logical choice. But Saros was not the difference-maker Finland needed him to be. He also had no margin for error. But Team USA’s opening goal from Brady Tkachuk was banked in off Saros from below the goal line. The Guentzel goal that made it 4-1 was one Saros had to have.
Kevin Lankinen could be Finland’s choice against Sweden.
Hellebuyck opens shaky
Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk were caught deep in the offensive zone. Kyle Connor was late to seal off Eetu Luostarinen on the right-side boards. All of this allowed the Finns to trigger a three-on-two rush against a poorly gapped Noah Hanifin and Brock Faber.
A fast-moving Mikael Granlund gave Henri Jokiharju a slot-line pass that forced Connor Hellebuyck to move from right to left. But Hellebuyck had plenty of time to shuffle across his crease, set his feet and get square to Jokiharju.
Hellebuyck, however, began to drop into reverse vertical-horizontal to seal off the strong-side post. He didn’t really need to. Jokiharju shot the puck from outside the right faceoff dot, which is a stoppable shot for an ace like Hellebuyck. Perhaps because of his early transition into RVH, Hellebuyck let the puck go under his right arm for Finland’s first goal.
Finns want to counterattack
Finland knows it does not have the Americans’ offensive firepower. So the Finns are looking to play off USA’s aggressiveness and counterattack off the rush.
It backfired in the first. When Zach Werenski intercepted Mikael Granlund’s clearing attempt up the wall at the right point, the Finns were already blowing the zone. This let the Americans go back on the attack, leading to Tkachuk’s tying goal.
Canada’s start catches Americans’ attention
It was not lost on Jack Eichel that Team Canada nearly blew Sweden’s doors off in the first period of their opener. Nathan MacKinnon scored 12 seconds into a power play. Brad Marchand made it 2-0 later in the first.
It reminded the Americans that a good start was critical. After Jokiharju’s goal, the Americans punched back when Tkachuk put a down-low follow-up shot through Juuse Saros, tying the game at 1-1.
“I don’t think you lose a tournament in the first period of a game,” Eichel said. “It’s our goal to start well, come out and impose our game on the Finns tonight and feel good about ourselves after 20 minutes. At the same time, it’s going to be important for us to be resilient and understand not every period, not every shift, not every game is going to be a perfect depiction of what we want.”
Americans’, Finns’ healthy scratches
Jake Sanderson, a late addition following Quinn Hughes’ injury before the start of the tournament, was the healthy scratch on defense. Up front, Chris Kreider was out of uniform. With Jake Oettinger dressed as Connor Hellebuyck’s backup, Jeremy Swayman was the No. 3 goalie.
Kaapo Kakko and Jusso Valimaki were Finland’s healthy scratches. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was Finland’s third goalie.
(Photo of Brady Tkachuk celebrating a goal in USA’s win over Finland: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
