Florida Panthers
OT! Canada: McDavid Goal Tops USA in 4 Nations Final
Connor McDavid scored 8:18 into overtime to lift Canada to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship with a 3-2 win over the USA.
Jordan Binnington kept Canada in the game after Florida’s Sam Bennett tied it in the second — ending the night with 31 saves in the win.
As expected, Thursday’s game was a tight affair.
Canada took the initial lead off a goal from Nathan MacKinnon at 4:48 in the first on a seeing-eye shot from 40 feet out.
Brady Tkachuk tied it at 1, scoring with 3:08 left in the period when he charged the net and got a piece of a misfired pass from Auston Matthews.
Jake Sanderson gave Team USA a 2-1 lead at 7:32 — only to see Bennett take a feed from Mitch Marner and roof a shot from the left circle.
Team USA spent much of the game without Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk who has been slowed by what is believed to be a groin injury.
Tkachuk missed much of the third period Saturday and did not play on Monday against Sweden.
Thursday, he left the game in the second period and did not play again.
USA vs. CANADA – 4 NATIONS NOTES
- Bennett became the fourth Florida Panthers player to score a goal in the tournament; Tkachuk scored twice, with Sasha Barkov and Anton Lundell each scoring for Finland.
- MacKinnon scored his tournament-leading fourth goal of the 4 Nations Face-Off. Only two players had at least four goals at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey: Brad Marchand (five) and Patrice Bergeron (four) both in six games played.
- Brady Tkachuk scored his third goal of the tournament which is tied for the team lead. Keith Tkachuk, scored one of his 10 career NHL International Tournament goals in the final game, that coming in Game 2 of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey final against Canada.
FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME
- 1. Jordan Binnington, Canada
- 2. Connor McDavid, Canada
- 3. Jaccob Slavin, USA
4 NATIONS FACE-OFF SCHEDULE/RESULTS
At Montreal
- Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada 4, Sweden 3 (OT)
- Thursday, Feb. 13: United States 6, Finland 1
- Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland 4, Sweden 3 OT; United States 3, Canada 1
At Boston Garden
- Monday: Canada 5, Finland 3; Sweden 2, United States 1
- Championship: Canada 3, USA 2 (OT)
ON DECK: GAME No. 58
SEATTLE KRAKEN at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Season Series (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Seattle: Panthers 2, Kraken 1 SO (Dec. 11). At Florida: Feb. 22.
- Last Season: Tied 1-1
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Seattle leads 4-3-0
- Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m.
