The day is finally here. When the tournament was announced nearly a year ago, all eyes were on this matchup. Canada and the United States going head-to-head in a best-on-best championship game. Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Nathan MacKinnon against Auston Matthews, Connor Hellebuyck, and the Tkachuk brothers. Patience is finally paying off, and this is shaping up to be one of the biggest hockey games that fans have seen since Canada won gold in the 2010 Olympics.
There aren’t any Stanley Cup Final, Olympic, or World Cup games that have felt this way since Crosby’s “Golden Goal” in the Vancouver Olympics. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Canada Fired Up For the Rematch
Of course, Canada and USA played during the round-robin and USA took a 3-1 win. Every quote, conference, and conversation from the players has been about getting revenge in this rematch. Every player is hyped up for this, and it will be the biggest game of many of their careers so far.
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What Canada needs to do is play their game. It sounds simple, but is far from it. They have three of the best players in the world with McDavid, MacKinnon, and Cale Makar, and they need to play that way. To call players like Brayden Point, Sam Reinhart, and Crosby depth options is quite the luxury, but they need sustained offense from them too. In the previous meeting between the two teams, the superstars hadn’t generated much offense and there weren’t enough shots through traffic in front of the net.
Players like Brandon Hagel, Sam Bennett, Seth Jarvis, and Brad Marchand need to be louder in the crease and make it difficult for Hellebuyck to see the shots. Most shots that Hellebuyck has a clear look at are not going to go in. He is the best goaltender in the world.
On the defensive side of things, there isn’t much that Canada has to do better. Their defensive group plays really well and the forwards aren’t giving up on the backcheck. It helps that Canada will have Makar in the lineup for this game, too. They just need to continue with that. At the very back of the arena is Jordan Binnington. He needs to not let a soft goal in. When going up against the American superstars, it isn’t easy to make all of the saves. They have a darn good team, and a ton of offensive talent. Where Canada lost the first matchup was the soft goal he allowed, and he has done so in all three games so far.
Binnington has started each game pretty well, but as the game goes on, he has allowed at least one soft goal in the second or third period. That can’t happen tonight. One of those goals could be the decision-maker, can suck the energy out of Canada, and can cost them the championship. Goaltenders face the most pressure out of anybody, and he needs to show that he can take it. He did it once before in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final with the St. Louis Blues and needs to do it again here.
USA Looking to Dethrone Canada
If the USA wants to take the crown from Canada as the reigning best-on-best champion, they need to keep playing the way that they are. Their defensive group, even without Charlie McAvoy, is very mobile, physical, and very strong defensively. It is hard to get anything through those defensemen, and even with the talent Canada has at the top of the lineup, USA has made it look easy to stop at times.
No notes on Hellebuyck. He has proven, at the highest level, that he can get things done. Some point to his recent play in the playoffs and think that could translate here, but he hasn’t given any reason to believe so, and is likely on path to earning an award as the best player of the tournament. He just needs to be himself.
With lingering injuries to Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, and probably a few others, they can’t let it affect them. The Tkachuk’s need to be physical beasts like the last matchup, Matthews needs to showcase his nearly unbeatable shot, and others need to perform well.
Other shooters like Kyle Connor and Jake Guentzel need to be on their A-game, and defensive star forwards like Vincent Trocheck and Dylan Larkin need to keep it up. The trend with the Americans is that they don’t have to change a whole lot to find success. The only loss of the tournament for them so far was without Matthew Tkachuk, Charlie McAvoy, and Hellebuyck, and having two of those three in the lineup should be a big boost for them.
It all comes down to this. One game for the championship, and USA is going to be ready to fight back. Maybe it won’t be three fights in nine seconds, but they will battle hard, they will be physical, and they will try and wear down the Canadians until they have nothing left. That is how USA can win this game.
