NHL 4 Nations Face-Off 2025: Winners and Losers From USA vs. Finland

It was a close, hard-fought game between the United States and Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal...for two periods.

In a tournament featuring the best of the best, you would expect the closeness of the contest to carry over into the final stanza.

What that usual equation doesn’t account for, though, are the Tkachuk brothers.

Matthew and Brady Tkachuk each scored two goals, and the U.S. scored four times in the third period to break a close game wide open in a 6-1 win. At one point in the first period, Finland had a 1-0 lead.

The regulation win puts the United States firmly atop the standings with three points, one point ahead of Saturday's opponents, Canada.

Sweden and Finland duke it out Saturday afternoon in a game both teams desperately need to win to keep their hopes of landing in the 4 Nations Face-Off final alive.

Even though the big picture had the U.S. as winners and Finland as losers, we’re going to go a little deeper and pick out a few others.

There was a point in the second period when the game was close and the U.S. was looking for a spark to help it break through Finland’s frustrating defense.

That’s when coach Mike Sullivan chose chaos by teaming Matthew and Brady Tkachuk together on a line with Jack Eichel centering them.

It turned out to be the right move to allow the U.S. to switch things into another gear.

“I think those two players, not only are they great players, but they’re great teammates,” Sullivan said. “I also think that it’s pretty cool when you have an opportunity to play with your brother there might be some added motivation or some added inspiration to want to play. So that was something that we thought about and talked about as a staff before the tournament even started.”

Having the foresight to put them together wasn’t exactly a difficult thing to plan for, but seeing them in action together—picking up the pace of play and ultimately turning the game into a win with ease—was the kind of thing both brothers dreamed of going into this tournament.

“I think it was better than all those dreams that you have,” Brady Tkachuk said. “Just for it to actually happen and for Matthew, it’s a big goal for our team as well. Just the excitement from not just myself but the team to get that goal, a two-goal lead there. It’s amazing. I don’t really have words to describe it right now. I think there’s no complacency. Just want to keep making more memories.”

Part of what made the United States’ win so emphatic was how they did it.

They smothered Finland all game long with their forecheck, attacking in waves with their forwards. Connor Hellebuyck only had to make 20 saves to get the win and when you’re able to make the night that much easier for the best goalie in the NHL, you’re going to win games going away.

“It makes my job real easy,” American defenseman Brock Faber said. “It allows me to be able to gap a little more, track a little more, and as a defenseman, you love when forwards like we have that can pin their D down in the D-zone.”

If Finland did elude the forecheck, they then had to deal with how aggressively the U.S. played along the walls and in the zone.

American players were throwing their bodies around at will, particularly the Tkachuk brothers (Brady was credited with eight hits) as well as J.T. Miller, it can make the whole game that much more exhausting and frustrating.

“I believe we’ve got a team that can create offense different ways,” Sullivan said. “We’re talented enough to create off the rush, but if it’s not there off the rush we’ve got a pretty good grind game also and I think the grind game is an important element to controlling momentum and establishing the game we want to play.”

When United States general manager Bill Guerin, who is also the Minnesota Wild GM, selected a pair of younger players from his own team—Matthew Boldy and Brock Faber—it was seen to be a risk.

Taking your guys in this kind of short tournament brings all the heat his way if it doesn’t work, and he looks like the gutsiest guy in the world if it does.

After the win against Finland on Thursday, you could excuse Guerin if he felt a little smug. Faber and Boldy connected on the goal that put the United States up for good in the second period.

It’s the kind of play those two have done a bunch already with the Wild and doing it again now helped show Guerin’s decision was the right one on the night.

“(Boldy) played a great game, he plays how he does,” Faber said. “He made my job easy. All I had to do was fire it down there… The lane opened up and my job is the easy part. His job is the hard part making a nice tip like that.”

One game doesn’t make an entire tournament, but seeing them connect on a goal with Faber logging big minutes (nearly 19) helps take some of the weight off Guerin’s shoulders for sticking with his guys.

The hardest part of a short tournament is how one loss can completely ruin the chance to win it all.

In the 4 Nations Face-Off, regulation wins are worth three points and taking a loss in 60 minutes is especially punishing. Finland is now in the unenviable position of needing to beat Sweden on Saturday and then likely needing to defeat Canada in Boston.

If a team can drag a game to overtime and get a point or two out of it, that’s infinitely better than just taking a hard loss that ends the chance to lift the trophy.

Finland played well for 40 minutes against the U.S., but 40 good minutes don’t often guarantee a win or even an overtime loss.

“I think we either win or we learn, and we learned a lot from the game we played today,” Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We learned from the good things we did and, obviously, not great things. So, we’ll watch some video tomorrow and the next day and prepare for a game.”

What makes the loss to the U.S. harder to swallow is how it reflected upon goalie Juuse Saros. He allowed six goals on 32 shots (26 saves) and with four of them coming in the third period. And with two other very capable goalies behind him in Kevin Lankinen and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, if there’s a change to be made, Finland coach Antti Pennanen has to make it as soon as possible.

“Of course, we need to think about (Saros),” Pennanen said. “It was a tough day for Jus. He was really good through the first 40 minutes, but I think we need to analyze this game and let’s make those decisions tomorrow or Saturday.”

Saturday’s game between the United States and Canada would have been monumental no matter what.

The history between the two teams and the fierce rivalry that’s seen Canada crush the Americans’ dream of winning gold in the Olympics twice since 2000 (2002, 2010) are memories that are still fresh in the minds of fans.

It isn’t for the championship, but with both the U.S. and Canada getting wins in their first games and the chance to be in the driver’s seat for a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off Final, Saturday's contest is a big deal.

“I think it’s going to be the biggest game that I’ve ever played in my career so I’m really looking forward to that,” Brady Tkachuk said. “There’s a big buildup to it. USA vs Canada is bigger than just the guys on the ice. There’s so many people past, present, down the road. So excited for it. We’ve been talking about that game especially. Really excited to experience it. It’s going to be a long couple of days until it happens but it’ll be exciting.”

Other things are going on outside of hockey with the U.S. and Canada that create an uncomfortable layer of drama.

Many fans at Bell Center booed the U.S. national anthem on Thursday and even though most players said they tuned that out, Matthew Tkachuk said he didn’t like hearing it.

It might be uncomfortable to have real life and sports life interacting like this, but in this situation in this location, it’s unavoidable.

“It's going to be a battle,” Faber said. “They're extremely skilled. We're extremely skilled. They're fast, we're fast. It's going to be a lot of fun and a fun environment. And we're really looking forward to it.”