The 4 Nations Face-Off tournament has made its way to the United States as the action now shifts from the Bell Centre in Montreal to TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins.
USA is playing its first game since they defeated Canada 3-1 in a highly emotional matchup that featured three fights in the first nine seconds, snapping a 17-game losing streak in international play against its arch rival and putting an end to Canada’s captain Sidney Crosby’s 26-game win streak in tournament play for his country.
Now, the U.S. hosts Sweden, who are coming off of a second consecutive 4-3 overtime loss, this time against Finland last Saturday afternoon.
Here’s everything you need to know for USA vs. Sweden, including how to watch, all the clinching scenarios and more for the round robin finale tonight in Beantown:
TV: TNT and truTV
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The USA vs. Sweden round-robin finale will air on TNT and truTV.
USA-Sweden 4 Nations Face-Off game starts at 8 p.m. from TD Garden.
Streaming options for this 4 Nations Face-Off round robin finale includes Sling and MAX.
The clinching scenarios to advance to the championship for the three remaining teams on Monday are:
Canada: A win in regulation against Finland, OR if it defeats Finland in overtime and any result of the United States-Sweden other than a regulation win by Sweden.
Finland: Beat Canada in regulation or defeat Canada in overtime or shootout AND any result of the U.S.-Sweden game other than a regulation win by Sweden.
Sweden: Defeating the United States in regulation AND the Canada-Finland game is decided in overtime or shootout.
Puck line: USA -1.5 (+130), Sweden +1.5 (-155)
Over/Under: Over 5.5 goals (-130), Under 5.5 goals (+110)
Moneyline: USA (-192), Sweden (+160)
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook in New Jersey as of Monday, Feb. 17.
Simply put, this game could mean everything or nothing for Sweden.
They have two enormous hurdles. First, it needs the Canada-Finland matchup to go past regulation to have any type of chance.
If that happens, Sweden then needs to beat the United States in regulation for a rematch on Thursday night at TD Garden.
While USA might take it easy on its top players already locked in for the championship — including Panthers’ forward Matthew Tkachuk who’s already been ruled out for this game with a lower body injury he suffered on Saturday against Canada — I anticipate a huge bounce back performance from Canada that will put to rest any chance Sweden has to advance.
Even though they’ll already have been eliminated, Sweden keeps fighting and leaves it all out on the ice in their final game of the tournament, but come up just short as the United States win their first game on home ice with the highly anticipated, must-see rematch against Canada in the championship game coming later this week.
Prediction: USA 4, Sweden 2
*USA: 6 points (2-0-0-0)
Canada: 2 points (0-1-0-1)
Finland: 2 points (0-1-0-1)
Sweden: 2 point (0-0-2-0)
*Clinched spot in Thursday’s championship game
Each country will play one game against the other three countries during the round robin stage. Teams will earn three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime/shootout win and one point for if they lose in the overtime/shootout. The two teams with the best records will face off against one other in the championship game.
Games will be played under NHL rules, with the lone exception being that overtime will now feature 10 minutes of 3-on-3 sudden death throughout the round robin portion unlike the NHL’s five minutes. If it’s still tied after 10 minutes, the game will then go to a shootout. During the championship game, overtime is just as it is in NHL playoff overtime: 5-on-5 hockey for 20-minute periods with the next team that scores a goal wins the game.
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