Head coach Mike Sullivan‘s Team USA defeated Team Canada, led by stars Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand, 3-1 in a key game of the Four Nations Face-Off, but the joy of victory came with the bad news of an injury to NHL star player Matthew Tkachuk.
Panthers star Tkachuk played an important role in the victory over the Canadian team, not only in terms of his play on the ice. The game started with three fights in nine seconds, provoked by the Florida Panthers star against Brandon Hagel.
Tkachuk played just over 10 minutes and was not as dominant as he was in the win over Finland. Much of his lack of prominence was due to the fact that he asked to stay off the ice in the third period due to a supposed injury. The rare situation was cleared up by coach Sullivan.
Sullivan’s clarification on the absence of Tkachuk
Mike Sullivan says Matthew Tkachuk has a lower body injury. He used the term “out” and said he is being evaluated. He said he doesn’t have enough information to determine his status for Monday, NHL insider Dan Rosen reported on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Will Tkachuk be able to play in the rest of the Four Nations?
According to Sullivan, the status of Tkachuk, who could miss the remainder of the tournament, remains unclear and is a significant loss for Team USA. The Panthers star will be evaluated to determine the severity of his injury and whether he can continue to train for the final stretch of the tournament.
Team USA reached the Four Nations final
With a 3-1 win over Team Canada, the United States qualified for the final of the tournament, which will be played next Thursday. The next game will be on Monday against Sweden, who already qualified for the championship on February 20.