MONTREAL — Matthew Tkachuk didn’t play for the ultimate 12:36 of Workforce USA’s 3-1 win over Canada Saturday evening at Bell Centre, however the Panthers ahead assured he was advantageous.
“No, no concern at all,” mentioned Tkachuk, who alongside along with his brother Brady have been the guts and soul of Workforce USA. “Simply going to get pleasure from this win tonight. Aside from Recreation 7 final 12 months, this has been the spotlight of my hockey profession. I’m simply going to get pleasure from it with the fellows.
“We have such a fun group in there, and it’s going to be a fun plane ride tonight. Lots of laughs. We’re having a lot of fun with those guys.”
Head coach Mike Sullivan, nonetheless, pumped the brakes on Tkachuk’s proclamation.
“Matthew is out with a lower-body injury right now,” the American bench boss mentioned. “He’s being evaluated by our doctors. That’s all I can offer you. We’ll make decisions that we think is best for Matthew and we think is best for our team. Right now I don’t have a lot of information to go on so it’s hard for me to give you more.”
The US has yet one more round-robin contest to go on Monday in opposition to Sweden, earlier than the ultimate on Thursday in Boston.
It’s possible that Sullivan and the remainder of his employees will think about resting Tkachuk, which might carry Rangers ahead Chris Kreider into the lineup.
Kreider was a wholesome scratch for Workforce USA for the second straight sport on Saturday evening.
“It’s hard, those are not easy conversations,” Sullivan mentioned within the morning. “Clearly, we’ve got to make lineup choices. Each participant that’s a part of this group is an elite participant. They usually’re all of the go-to guys on their respective groups within the NHL. My method with him has been, we’ve had trustworthy conversations with him from Day 1. They perceive what the circumstance is.
“What I will tell you is both Chris and [Jake Sanderson] have been great. They’re great teammates, they’re great people, they know it’s an honor to be part of this whole experience. They’re message to me was, ‘We’re ready when you ask us.’”
The US caught with the lineup modifications that helped them dominate the third interval of their 4 Nations tournament-opening win over Finland.
After placing on a present within the first sport, Brady and Matthew Tkachuk remained on the wings of Jack Eichel.
Jake Guentzel, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes remained intact, whereas J.T. Miller switched to the left wing of Dylan Larkin and Matt Boldy.
The fourth line featured Brock Nelson, Vincent Trocheck and Kyle Connor.
Whereas Zach Werenski remained on the left of Charlie McAvoy as the highest protection pairings, Adam Fox went from skating with Jacob Slavin to Noah Hanifin. Slavin is now on the left of the third pair subsequent to Brock Faber.
“I think it’s a little different, you’re more so trying to just communicate the different system,” Fox mentioned of his course of adjusting to a brand new protection accomplice. “Everyone’s playing this system that Sully’s got, a little different than what their teams do. But everyone on that back end is a great player, so it’s really just communication that is the number one thing.”
Regardless of beginning the primary sport on Workforce USA’s prime power-play unit, Fox was changed by Werenski through the Finland sport. He’s now on the second unit.
Former Ranger Kaapo Kakko made his match debut for Finland of their win over Sweden on Saturday.
The Seattle ahead changed Joel Armia and skated on the best wing of the fourth line subsequent to Teuvo Teravainen and Erik Haula.
“Kakko, he has played good games lately, so I hope he can win the battles and fresh legs,” Finland coach Antti Pennanen mentioned. “Armia, he’s really OK, but a couple of penalties, so that’s why he’s out.”
