4 Nations Face-Off: Canada vs. United States — Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game: Team Canada vs. Team United States

Start time: **8:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM PST**
Venue: TD Garden, Boston
In Canada: Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the United States: ESPN
Streaming: ESPN+ (USA), Sportsnet+ (CAN)

The two teams that were favourites going into the 4 Nations Face-Off meet in its final tonight. They’ve already played one of the most intense games in recent history earlier in the tournament when all that was at stake was seeding for this final. Now there’s a trophy on the line when Canada meets the United States for the second time.

The Americans got the better of Canada in the round robin, playing shutdown defence that Canada’s star players couldn’t break through. The likes of Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon attempted to keep playing a skilled game with passes through the middle of the ice even though the Americans were focused on preventing those, and the defensive plan worked. Sweden was able to beat Team USA in the final game of the preliminary round by cycling the puck in the offensive zone and keeping the United States on its heels. That’s the strategy that seems to work best versus the group, and the one Canada will need to adopt to avoid a second loss to its neighbour.

Defence is a big story going into this game as Cale Makar will be in Canada’s lineup, but Charlie McAvoy, who played a solid game while matched up against McDavid in the first game, is hospitalized with an infection. It won’t be true best-on-best with both teams dealing with injuries, but both nations still have many of their superstars competing for bragging rights.

Team Canada projected lineup

Team USA projected lineup