Team USA vs. Canada hockey game: Three keys to victory for the Americans in 4 Nations Face-Off final

Team Usa will play his biggest game in 15 years on Thursday night when he encounters Canada in the Championship of the 4 nations. The North -Americans have already shown that they can overcome their bitter rivals, but the Canadians will do their best to avenge the loss of Saturday and win the tournament.

Team USA has been the most consistent team of the tournament. He defended well, has achieved a good goal and took advantage of his offensive possibilities. All three things will have to continue if you want to have the opportunity to say -as the highest hockey program in the world at the 2026 winter Olympic Games in Italy.

When it comes to revenge, I would expect Canada to try to make his attack quickly be offended. This is how the Canadians scored their only goal on Saturday and have speed to burn if the United States give them a place.

When the Canadians go through the blue -American blue line, it will be at Connor Hellebuyck to make key savings. It has done so in both exits so far, but the difficulty can increase on Thursday.

Finally, if there is an area where Americans can improve, it is to create a long time. You cannot afford to sit your heels and play defense all night, and they need to launch quality features to Jordan Binnington, which has not been exactly impenetrable.

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Pete Blackburn

Here are the three largest keys of the Team USA victory in its championship against Canada.

Drowning Canada’s rush crime

This is something that Team Usa did a very good job at the first meeting between these two teams. Connor McDavid left the neutral zone in the first and only goal of Canada, but the North -Americans closed these opportunities quickly quickly later.

The challenge that the United States has this time is that Charlie Mcavoy is due to injuries. He did an exceptional job of cutting the Canadians on their own blue line, and almost hit McDavid in the next province. The rest of the North -American defense is still fully capable of skating with the Canadians, at least to some extent. I would expect Jaccob Slavin and Brock Faber to obtain most of these minutes of stoppage. These two worked very well together, and Slavin was crucial for the third period of Lockdown Team USA.

The key to the key here is the Americans’ ability to play defense as a unit of five men once the Canadians go to the boards. When Sidney Crosby, Nathan Mackinnon and Mitch Marner are searching and looking for open teammates, Team USA must have sticks in the passing lanes and the dangerous scoring areas covered. Once again, the North -Americans did a great Saturday work. Now they just have to replicate it.

Test Binnington soon and often

Binnington has allowed at least one heavy goal in each of the Canada games in this tournament. In the game against Team USA, a Jake Guentzel carpet burner who fell through Binnington’s legs ended up being the difference.

If there was a critique you could charge against the North -Americans in this party, they did not reach the scoring areas more often. According to Natural Stat Trick, Team USA generated only five Danger score possibilities to five to five compared to 12 Canada. Hardly saves more frequently.

This is where Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes enter. These two are two of the most endowed offensive players at their disposal, but they have combined two assists until now. If there were some time for Matthews and Hughes to fill the statistical card, it would be on Thursday night and Binnington was not exactly unbeatable.

Keep Hellebuyck’s door clean

At the opposite end of Binnington’s gel, Hellebuyck will remain in the United States fold, which is a coincidence that strongly favors the north -Americans, which means that they cannot let Canada have a gift on the net.

Team Usa has done a good job to limit the possibilities of great duration, but Canada will end its opportunities. When the Canadians get a shot, there can be no rebound in a dangerous area for a long time. When the Canada comes from the rush, there can be no open pass lanes for the stops at the rear doors. When Canada is settle for knit shots, Hellebuyck cannot be selected by three or four layers of traffic.

Hellebuyck is able to make impossible savings seem easy, but it is best not to tempt the destination against the Canadians of great power. So far, Team Usa has defended himself very well in front of Hellebuyck and the results have shown it. Hellebuyck stopped 45 of the 47 shots that he faced with the tournament, and if the Americans do not hinder the work night on Thursday, they would have to win return games against Canada.