By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer
BOSTON — Sweden rallied after falling behind just 35 seconds into the game, and Samuel Ersson made 31 saves on Monday night to beat the United States, 2-1, in the 4 Nations Face-Off round-robin finale, handing the title game-bound Americans their first loss of the tournament.
The nightcap meant nothing to either the Americans or Swedes: The U.S. had already clinched a spot in Thursday night’s championship game against Canada, which beat Finland earlier Monday, and Sweden needed Canada to falter to have a chance of making the final.
With some fans wearing powdered wigs and colonial-era tricorn hats, the Boston crowd bellowed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game – a response to the Canadians who booed the U.S. national anthem before the early matchups in Montreal. Chants of “U-S-A!” rang out through the TD Garden in the final minutes, with goalie Jake Oettinger pulled for an extra skater, but the Americans couldn’t beat Ersson to force overtime.
Chris Kreider gave the Americans the lead in the opening minute, but Gustav Nyquist tied it a dozen minutes later and Jesper Bratt gave Sweden the lead with less than a minute remaining in the first period. The next two periods remained scoreless despite the Americans having an overall 32-23 edge in shots on goal.
The Americans reached the final by winning their first two round-robin games, against Canada and Finland. The North American rivals will have a change to reprise the fight-filled round-robin matchup that was the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final hockey game since 2019.
The Americans started the game a player down with top center Auston Matthews out, and then Brady Tkachuk left in the second period after colliding with Ersson in the crease. More disappointing for the Boston fans was Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy being scratched from the lineup.
Tkachuk, who plays for the Ottawa Senators, lost an edge while driving to the Sweden net in the first period and slammed his side into the goal cage just 7:37 into the game. He went back to the U.S. bench in discomfort and eventually left for the trainers’ room.
He returned to the ice for a short 14-second shift later in the period but did not come back out with the team for the second period.
Tkachuk had five shifts in the game for a total of 1:55 in ice time. He had two goals in Team USA’s victory over Finland last week.
It’s another injury concern for the Americans ahead of Thursday’s rematch with Canada.
Matthew Tkachuk, Brady’s older brother, missed Monday’s game out of injury precaution. The Florida Panthers star sat out the final 12:36 of the third period of Team USA’s victory over Canada because of a lower-body injury.
The Tkachuk brothers helped set the tone for that 3-1 victory with two fights within the first three seconds. They play on either side of center Jack Eichel to form one of the more effective U.S. scoring lines.
Matthews had some upper body soreness after the win over Canada. He has one assist in two games for the U.S., averaging 20:16 in ice time. McAvoy has averaged 19:36 in two games with no points.
The U.S. inserted New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider and Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson into their lineup against Sweden, playing with 17 skaters (11 forwards, 6 defensemen).
Canada 5, Finland 3: Nathan MacKinnon scored twice. Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist. Sidney Crosby flipped in an empty-netter from center ice after Finland cut a four-goal deficit to one in the final minutes.
Canada’s best players came through on Monday to earn a rematch with the United States.
“That’s what you need: big plays from big-time players,” Crosby said after the 5-3 victory over Finland. “These guys are used to playing in these big games under the spotlight and delivering. They did again tonight.”
Canada and the United States will play on Thursday night in a sequel to a round-robin game in Montreal last week that started with three fights and ended with the Americans celebrating a 3-1 victory. Canadian forward – and Boston Bruins captain – Brad Marchand will take the ice as an opponent at the TD Garden in a series where fans had to be asked not to boo the opponents’ national anthem.
“We’re obviously really excited about (having) another crack at these guys. It’s going to be an intense game, for sure,” Marchand said in the visitor’s locker room, down the hall from the one where he has changed for the past 16 seasons.
“There’s no bigger rivalry in hockey than Canada-U.S., and I think it’s the matchup that everybody wanted,” Marchand said. “So it’s going to be an extremely intense game, one we’re all going to be looking forward to.”
Jordan Binnington stopped 23 shots for Canada on the same ice where he clinched the 2019 Stanley Cup for the St. Louis Blues. Brayden Point also scored and Sam Reinhart had three assists as the Canadians opened a 4-0 lead in the first 25 minutes.
The tournament is the NHL’s return to international competition after sitting out the 2018 and 2022 Olympics. It delivered last week’s intense U.S.-Canada game against a backdrop of frosty real-world relations between the countries, spurred by President Donald Trump’s talk of tariffs – or even turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state.
The Americans were set to play Sweden on Monday night in a game that lost any meaning once Canada clinched the second spot in the final. The U.S. won both of its previous round-robin games, earning the top spot in the pool.
After fiery play in Montreal last week, Monday’s game was preceded by tepid booing during the Canadian national anthem and all of the intensity of a midwinter NHL game between two teams with interim coaches.
And then, the Finns found life.
Esa Lindell scored with seven minutes left to make it 4-1, and then Mikael Granlund scored twice in the final 100 seconds with the Finnish goalie off for an extra attacker. Crosby ended the suspense when he flipped a loose puck from center ice into the empty net.
“Got a couple of goals there late and came really close, but not today,” Finnish forward Aleksander Barkov said. “Obviously, it’s not an easy task to come back from a 4-0 deficit against maybe the best team in the world. So I think we did well there at the end. But the rest of the 50 minutes we could have and should have probably played a little better.”
McDavid opened the scoring just four minutes in and then MacKinnon made it 2-0 less than a minute later. Before five minutes had elapsed, the Finns had used their timeout in an attempt to settle things down.
Point gave the Canadians a 3-0 lead late in the first, and then MacKinnon made it 4-0 five minutes into the second.
That was all for Finnish goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who stopped five of nine shots in all.
Juuse Saros made 14 saves the rest of the way.
Binnington stopped Finland’s first 19 shots before Lindell scored to end the bid for what would have been the first shutout of the tournament. With Saros pulled for an extra attacker, Granlund scored a pair of goals to make it 4-3.
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