Saturday matchups have come and gone for the Four Nations Face-Off and both did not disappoint. With the matinee game between rivals Finland and Sweden followed up with the battle of the titans USA and Canada there was some incredible hockey played. Let’s start with the Finland and Sweden game.

Since the Four Nations tourney is so short this was a hugely important game for each country. Finland took the loss in regulation against USA on Thursday and Sweden went down in overtime against Canada to open up the tournament Wednesday. In order to not be eliminated from a chance at the Championship game, Finland needed to secure a win while Sweden needed a win to not fall behind first place, which will be whatever team comes out on top between Canada and the US.

A total of 6 goals would happen in the first and second period, starting with Sweden’s Zibanejad at 8:35 of the first. Olli Määttä would cough it up right in front of his own net to let Ziba easily score 5-hole on Lankinen from the slot. Finland would respond though with goals from Anton Lundell and star Mikko Rantanen with first goals of the tourney for each of them. The costly mistake from Määttä seemed to spark Finland with those 2 goals coming in the 10 minutes remaining in the first. I really liked the Florida Panther connection for Finland between Lundell and Luostarinen, they clicked really well especially on the 2 on 1 goal that tied the game up at 1.

Rasmus Dahlin kicked it off and tied the game 2-2 at 5:06 of the second. Off a nice activation play from the Swedish defenseman he drove the net and slammed home a rebound close in the crease. Not to be outdone by the young Dahlin, Erik Karlsson (34 years old to Dahlin’s 24) gave us a vintage EK65 play with a wicked wrister down the far side past Lankinen’s right shoulder to give Sweden the lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the final frame. Karlsson seems to have come to life in this tourney which I’m sure Penguins fans are a little excited about.

Finland would have some magic left in this period though. Captain Aleksander Barkov jammed in the tying goal off a shot pass from Olli Määttä at 17:05 setting up a do or die final period.

Starting the 3rd period tied up at 3-3, there was no room on the ice anywhere it seemed. A power play nearly halfway through the period looked like a beautiful chance for Sweden as not only were they getting the man advantage but Aleksander Barkov, perhaps the greatest two way forward in the world, would be the one going to the box for the penalty kill. Despite the advantage for Sweden the penalty would be killed nicely by the Fins. Shortly after, a beautiful move from Barkov going towards the net sparked 3 great scoring chances for Finland, one for Barkov off of the move, one for Kaako in tight and the best one of all 3 for Rantanen after a great battle from Kaako and Barkov to keep the puck in the zone and find Rantanen streaking right down the slot. This onslaught would be answered by Sweden with great chances coming from Zibanejad in the high slot and Bratt flying down the outside to nearly go over the shoulder with just 2 minutes remaining.

This early game would need extra time, and if you blinked you may have missed an insane scoring chance off the puck drop from Zibanejad, with Lankinen barely getting a toe on it to keep it out of the net. It’s been a slow start to the NHL season for star center Zibanejad but his play in the tournament for Sweden has been quite good. He’s had good scoring chances and I haven’t really seen any big defensive mistakes from him. Through the first 2 games he’s fired 8 shots on net, that’s good to be tied for third in shots in the whole tournament. This could be the start of a strong second half for him, it will be a long shot though to do enough to get the NY Rangers back into the playoff picture though.

Sweden came out the stronger team in OT, getting almost the first whole minute in Finland’s zone. Strong starts don’t mean much though as even though Finland only controlled the puck for a mere dozen seconds in the first 109 seconds, and that would be when the game would end. Sweden’s Adrian Kempe put a beautiful chance to the net and it barely stayed out sparking Finnish D-man Mikkola to dish it to Granlund heading the other way. Granlund had eyes up the whole way down, screaming pass as he stared over at Mikkola across from him but with a no look wrister he rifled it short side past Ullmark and in for the overtime winner. This would keep Finland’s hopes alive and inject even more competition into this world best on best tourney.

The heavyweight bout of the evening would start off with more than a bang, 3 to be exact, with 3 fights happening in the first 9 seconds of the game. I’m sure you’ve seen it, it’s all over the internet as it should be. Do yourself a favor and watch it in full and tell me you don’t want to run through a wall.

Afterwards, the game settled in a bit and it wouldn’t be long until we got our first vintage McDavid moment. Just because he hasn’t scored yet doesn’t mean he isn’t the most electrifying player in the world. Flying in down the far side of the zone and clocking in around 24mph, McDavid went right past everyone and roofed a nasty backhand over Hellebuyck’s right shoulder and honestly, the guy had no chance. At 5:31 of the first, the roof blew off the Bell Centre and the game was really on.

USA would even the game at 10:15 of the first from Jake Guentzel, his second goal of the tournament. That would be all we would get in the back of the net for a while, with tight checking and minimal room for any playmaking ability. Remember when I talked about a guy named Dylan Larkin on Thursday? I said I had a feeling he would score a big goal in this tournament. Yeah, remember that? Well, at 13:33 of the second a rare mishap by Captain Canada Sidney Crosby would send Larkin and J.T. Miller on a 2 on 1 towards Binnington. Larkin never even looked at J.T. Eyes up the whole way, Larkin snapped a wrister low and left on Binnington that got past his right arm into the net giving USA a 2-1 lead. What a moment for Larkin, designated a 4th liner to start this tournament with minimal ice time this Michigan man was on a mission to be a difference maker. The Red Wings are a playoff bubble team right now, will Larkin’s play inject some magic into the Wings and snap their no playoff streak? We can only hope. This caption couldn’t be any better, so Alexa? Play Free Bird.

This USA Canada matchup was honestly some of the best hockey I’ve seen in a long time. It was more than playoff intensity, it was seemingly even more than Stanley Cup Final energy. This was a gift to sports fans anywhere and everywhere, and with a win USA clinches a spot in the Championship Game on Thursday. Which other Nation will come to play that Thursday night? Do we see a rematch of this game? If we do, I wonder if we’ll see 4 fights or any fighting at all as the tone has been set. And if I was a betting man I would say that game might even be better than this one.