BOSTON — Brady Tkachuk has spent his life following his older brother’s lead.
He has taken that to the extreme in this 4 Nations Face-Off.
Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals in the tournament opener against Finland, so Brady scored two of his own. Matthew fought off the opening draw in the second game against Canada, so Brady dropped the gloves following the ensuing faceoff. And eerily, after Matthew missed the final 12:36 of the Canada game, Brady got hurt with 12:23 left in the first period Monday night in a 2-1 loss to Sweden after losing an edge and colliding with the goal post.
Brady spent the next seven minutes in the United States dressing room before returning. But he played only one more shift totaling 14 seconds, spent the rest of the first period opening and closing the bench door for his teammates and didn’t return to the game at the start of the second period.
Since the game was meaningless with the U.S. already destined to face Canada, which beat Finland earlier in the day, in Thursday’s final, coach Mike Sullivan said the decision to hold out Brady Tkachuk was out of precaution and he doesn’t anticipate Tkachuk missing Thursday’s title clash against the rival from the North.
Brother Matthew also missed Monday’s game out of precaution with the lower-body injury sustained in the third period against Canada two nights earlier. It would seem unimaginable that either Tkachuk would allow himself to miss Thursday’s game after how much they’ve invested in leading the United States in this tournament.
But the worry heading into the big game is how banged up the United States actually is.
Chris Kreider, inserted into the lineup because of injuries, scored the lone U.S. goal Monday. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy missed Monday’s game with an upper-body injury. Jake Sanderson replaced him in the lineup. The Boston Globe reported that McAvoy was admitted to the hospital Monday night.
And when Auston Matthews was unable to play with an upper-body injury, the United States had to play a forward short with no other healthy players on the roster with extra Chris Kreider already being inserted for Matthew Tkachuk.
“We start the game with 11 forwards, and then you lose another guy and a key player on our team,” center Jack Eichel said. “It’s never easy. You don’t want to see anyone go out. I give the guys credit. We put a lot on (the) 10 forwards, and it’s tough. Sully’s trying to find combinations. We had chances, but we just weren’t able to bury.”
The good news is the United States will have two days to rest some of these banged-up bodies before Thursday’s rematch with Canada.
“It’s nice, especially when down a handful of guys,” forward J.T. Miller said. “We need the extra time. Everybody’s going to be itching to get back in Thursday.”
Sullivan anticipates getting “some of these guys back,” but the United States may have to make contingency plans Tuesday by putting a player or two who did not make the initial American roster on call in case they need an emergency addition for Thursday.
NHL teams resume practicing Thursday, so general manager Bill Guerin won’t need to summon a player away from Cabo the way Canada did earlier this tournament with Thomas Harley. Harley changed his in-season vacation when Shea Theodore was lost for the tournament with an upper-body injury and was thrust into action Saturday night when Canada needed a defenseman with Cale Makar sick.
Harley didn’t play against Finland on Monday because Makar was healthy enough to return.
“I would anticipate we would (get players back Thursday),” Sullivan said. “We’ll have to wait and see how things play out here over the next day or so, but obviously there will be contingency planning in the event that we need people.”
Sullivan didn’t have much of an update on either McAvoy or Matthews. He said he expects he’ll have more information on both ailments Tuesday.
But without Matthews, McAvoy and Matthew Tkachuk, the loss of Brady Tkachuk on Monday made things more difficult for the United States, which had oodles of scoring chances but couldn’t beat Sam Ersson more than an early Kreider goal for a 1-0 lead.
Ersson, who made 32 saves, got the call for Sweden with Linus Ullmark and Filip Gustavsson both under the weather.
“It sucks (losing Brady),” said goalie Jake Oettinger, who got the start so Connor Hellebuyck could rest for Thursday. “He’s been like the heartbeat of this team pretty much. So I know he’ll be good to go for Thursday. He’s such a big piece for this whole thing.”
To Oettinger’s point, in a meaningless game, it was obvious Tkachuk came to play against Sweden. In just 1 minute, 55 seconds of ice time and an average shift length of 23 seconds, Tkachuk had three shots, another attempted and three hits.
“It’s not easy,” Sullivan said. “We lose a guy that early in the game. We’re already down one. We tried to spread the minutes around a little bit so nobody got an extensive workload. But when you’re down two guys that early in the game, it is what it is. I thought the guys competed hard.”
Oettinger made 21 saves but couldn’t get any goal support. The former Boston University goalie had a dozen family members travel to Boston for the start and was so proud to wear a Team USA jersey in front of them.
“I think I’ve never been more nervous for a game than I was today, like I wanted to win this game so bad,” Oettinger said.
Even if the Tkachuks and Matthews can play Thursday, Kreider may have earned another game. After being scratched for the first two games of the tournament, the former Boston College star and Boxford, Mass., native scored 35 seconds into his debut and was solid throughout.
“He’s a big, strong kid that can play a physical game, and I would anticipate that it will be a physical game (against Canada),” Sullivan said. “Both teams play a similar style, both north-south teams that play with a ton of speed and a ton of physicality. I think Kreids, his game, without a doubt suits that.”
(Top photo of Brady Tkachuk getting injured colliding with the goal post: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
