{"id":462484,"date":"2025-02-15T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=462484"},"modified":"2025-02-14T16:04:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:04:19","slug":"4-nations-face-off-predictions-united-states-vs-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/02\/15\/4-nations-face-off-predictions-united-states-vs-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Nations Face-Off Predictions: United States vs. Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 4 Nations Face-Off continues with a double-header Saturday in Montreal. In what can be considered the “rivalry day” of the tournament, Finland faces Sweden. Later, the United States renew their international rivalry with Canada. Today,\u00a0<\/span>Last Word On Hockey <\/span><\/em>looks at the USA\/Canada game.<\/span><\/p>\n

4 Nations Face-Off Predictions<\/span><\/h2>\n

United States vs. Canada\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Time: <\/span><\/strong>8:00 P.M. Eastern Time<\/span><\/p>\n

TV: <\/span><\/strong>ABC, ESPN+<\/span><\/p>\n

Rivalry Renewed<\/span><\/h4>\n

The United States\/Canada hockey rivalry dates back to 1920 when the two countries met for the gold medal in the Olympics. Canada won to claim the gold medal. Furthermore, the United States would not beat Canada in the Olympics until 1960.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The rivalry took a nasty turn in the 1991 Canada Cup. American defenceman Gary Suter<\/a> injured Canadian forward Wayne Gretzky<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The two countries met again for the gold medal in 2010, and Canada won again, thanks to an overtime-winning goal by Sidney Crosby<\/a>, once again the <\/span>captain<\/span><\/a> of Canada’s team. Four years later, the countries met again, but this time, the winner advanced to the gold medal game. Once again, Canada was victorious.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday is the first time both countries have faced each other with NHL players since that game in 2014. A rivalry that has been tame for the last ten years will likely find its intensity once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

USA Carried by Tkachuk Brothers<\/span><\/h4>\n

The United States sits atop the standings following a <\/span>convincing win<\/span><\/a> over Finland, 6-1. To Finland’s credit, they did hang in the game for 40 minutes, trailing only by one as the third period started. However, the United States opened the floodgates with four goals. Brothers Matthew Tkachuk<\/a> and Brady Tkachuk<\/a> led the way with two goals each. Connor Hellebuyck<\/a> stopped 20 of 21 shots in goal for the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

A regulation win on Saturday for the United States could propel them into the championship game next Thursday. However, Canada will not be an easy opponent by any means. It is unlikely the United States can play like they did in the first 40 minutes Thursday and expect to have still the lead going into the third period. To beat Canada requires 60 minutes of practically perfect hockey. Thankfully for the United States, they have players with Stanley Cup experience, which means they have players who know what it takes to win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada Beats Sweden, But Weakness Exposed<\/span><\/h4>\n

Canada beat Sweden in overtime on <\/span>Wednesday<\/span><\/a>, 4-3. Mitch Marner<\/a> scored the game-winning goal. Crosby was the star of the game, recording three assists, including one on Marner’s winning goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the game exposed a possible weakness in the Canadian team. When the rosters were announced, many speculated about who would get the nod <\/span>between the pipes<\/span><\/a> for Canada. As a result, all eyes were on Jordan Binnington<\/a> on Wednesday. The <\/span>2019 Stanley Cup Champion<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>former All-Star<\/span><\/a> did fine in goal. The highlight of his night was a big save in overtime, keeping the game going and thus setting the stage for the Marner goal. However, Binnington did let in a soft goal in the third period. Furthermore, Binnington found himself in a challenging position on a goal by Adrian Kempe<\/a>, who was using Drew Doughty<\/a> as a screen against Binnington. By allowing Sweden to force overtime, Canada cost themselves a point in the standings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada’s coach, Jon Cooper, inferred before the tournament that he would like to use the same goalie throughout the tournament<\/a>. Based on this, Binnington will start against the United States. However, Canada needs Binnington to be better than he was on Wednesday. Letting in a soft goal against Sweden may not hurt the team too much, but it will against the United States. Binnington is a competent goalie. However, if he were not as sharp, it would not be surprising to see Cooper turn to Adin Hill<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prediction<\/span><\/h4>\n

Canada and the United States are the best teams in this tournament. Saturday will be a fun night for hockey fans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the United States may have had the better-looking win in the first game, it is hard to bet against Team Canada. We expect another overtime game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada wins in overtime, 4-3.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets<\/span><\/h3>\n

The over\/under is set at 6.5 goals. We are taking the over with seven goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For prop bets, we like “Sid the Kid” as an anytime-scorer for Canada. For the United States, we like Jack Eichel<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: David Kirouac- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

Please play responsibly. Check for your local rules and age restrictions. Some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Have a gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 4 Nations Face-Off continues with a double-header Saturday in Montreal. In what can be considered the “rivalry day” of the tournament, Finland faces Sweden. Later, the United States renew their international rivalry with Canada. Today,\u00a0Last Word On Hockey looks at the USA\/Canada game. 4 Nations Face-Off Predictions United States vs. Canada\u00a0 Time: 8:00 P.M. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":462487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4524,8091,4547],"tags":[2133,213,3759,701,229,140,591,1799],"class_list":["post-462484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-predictions","category-4-nations-face-off","category-hockey","tag-brady-tkachuk","tag-jack-eichel","tag-jordan-binnington","tag-matthew-tkachuk","tag-mitch-marner","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-team-canada","tag-united-states"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462490,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462484\/revisions\/462490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}