Welcome to Instant Reaction — 4 Nations Face-Off edition! Typically, we give our Instant Reaction to Vancouver Canucks games, but since those aren’t happening right now, we thought we’d do the same for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
So it appears we might see more Canucks than just Elias Pettersson get into game action at this tournament after all! Let’s dive into this one.
Joel Armia took the game’s first penalty early when he was called for cross-checking. Despite a pretty dominant start at 5v5, the USA power play failed to register a shot on goal and struggled to even get set up.
The US appeared back in the driver’s seat, but it was Finland that opened the scoring after capitalizing on an odd-man rush after the US defence pinched.
Henri Jokiharju let go of a shot that Connor Hellebuyck likely should have had to make it 1-0 Finland. 
Team USA struck back quickly, as Brady Tkachuk stayed with his own rebound and banked a shot in off Saros to tie this one up.
1-1. 
Finland got their first power play of the game after Noah Hanifin tripped up Patrik Laine.
The Fins had good movement on the power play, and even got some decent looks, but the US PK held them off this time around. This was thanks in part to JT Miller making a beautiful kick save on the goal line.
In the second period, neither team scored for most of it, but my goodness it became evident that Team USA’s blueline needed to stop pinching.
Finland had multiple odd man rushes in the second period, and although not all of them even resulted in a shot on goal, the Americans were playing with fire.
Late in the second, Brock Faber let go of a point shot that Matt Boldy deflected past Saros to push USA’s lead to 2-1.
With 2.2 seconds to go, Olli Maatta tripped up Auston Matthews to give the Americans a power play heading into the third.
Matthew Tkachuk caught Saros by surprise to open the third period, as his wrister from the point deflected off a Finnish stick to make it 3-1. 
Back at 5v5, USA kept coming, as Auston Matthews found Jake Guentzel off the rush to put the Americans in the driver’s seat.
4-1 just like that. 
The US kept coming. Brady Tkachuk with his second of the game.
5-1. 
What a night for the Tkachuk brothers, who were put together on a line just over halfway into the second period. I’m thinking that line will stick.
How about one more USA goal from a Tkachuk for good measure?
Not a joke, I think it’s fair to say that Kevin Lankinen should at the very least get the next start. Finland played pretty well in this game, and Saros couldn’t make a save when they needed him to.
6-1 USA final.
One thing I’m even more sure of after tonight: USA vs. Canada on Saturday at 5 PM is going to be a hell of a game.
Finland’s next game is Saturday at 10 AM against rival Sweden. It will be interesting to see if Lankinen or UPL start that game.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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