Brady and Matthew Tkachuk broke open a close game in a four-goal third period to lead USA to a 6-1 win over Finland in the 4-Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre. The Tkachuk brothers combined for four of the Americans’ six goals in the victory. Not shockingly, they were named the game’s second and first stars in the on-ice presentation.

In the early going, USA failed to convert on a power play chance. They didn’t even register a shot against the Finland penalty kill. The Finns drew momentum from it to score the game’s first goal. On a play in transition, Henri Jokiharju surprised Connor Hellebuyck with a wrist shot from a tough angle to give Finland a 1-0 lead. He took a Mikael Granlund feed and got his first of the tournament with Olli Maatta screening in front.

Less than three minutes later, USA responded to tie the game. After failing to put in a Matt Boldy feed, Brady Tkachuk banked in his second shot off Juuse Saros for his first of the game. He was a big factor throughout, finishing checks along with older brother Matthew Tkachuk. The younger Tkachuk came together with defenseman Niko Mikkola at the end of one shift.

Unlike Canada and Sweden, the second game had a lot more edge to it. There were plenty of scrums with neither side backing down. J.T. Miller made sure to get involved early on. The Americans aren’t shy about mixing it up after the whistle. They’ll probably need to have that mindset when they face Canada on Saturday night. That’s a showdown everyone’s looking forward to.

After he allowed the bad goal to Jokiharju, Hellebuyck settled in to make 20 saves on 21 shots to get the win. One of his best came when he denied Anton Lundell’s shorthanded bid. None of Finland’s big stars had particularly strong games. The trio of Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho, and Mikko Rantanen were held off the scoresheet. They also went 0-for-2 on the power play while allowing USA to go 2-for-4. A notable difference in the game.

With the game still tied late in the second period, Boldy scored a big go-ahead goal to put USA on top. It was a Wild combination with Brock Faber hooking up with Boldy in front to make it 2-1 with 2:56 remaining. Faber had his shot pass tipped in by Boldy.

With time winding down, Maatta took an unnecessary hooking minor on Auston Matthews to put USA on the power play. With a fresh sheet of ice, they made Maatta pay. After receiving a pass from Zach Werenski, Matthew Tkachuk had his wrist shot deflect off a Finland player past Saros to make it 3-1 just 15 seconds into the third period.

Only eleven seconds later, Jack Hughes and Matthews combined on a quick hitter in transition with Jake Guentzel taking a Matthews feed and beating Saros with a wrist shot to suddenly give USA a 4-1 lead. That silenced most of the crowd who supported Finland.

If there was one critical difference between the teams, it was USA’s ability to get to crash the net. Led by the Tkachuk’s, they had their way. Coach Mike Sullivan made a smart move by putting both Brady and Matthew on the top line with Jack Eichel. Finland had no answer for it. They weren’t strong enough defensively to deal with the big boys. That was evident when Eichel made a great pass in front for Brady that he finished with a quick backhand to put the game out of reach.

On another power play later, Matthew got his second of the game when he buried a rebound of a Werenski shot to put the finishing touches on the USA victory. Werenski very quietly had three assists. The Blue Jackets defenseman is a leading candidate for the Norris Trophy. USA is without Quinn Hughes, who is the favorite to repeat for the league’s best defenseman. Cale Makar is the big Canadian star who makes up a great top three for the award. USA will have to slow down Makar and Nathan MacKinnon in two days. They’ll also have to deal with Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, who gave another brilliant performance to remain undefeated in international games for Canada.

Finland likely needs to beat Sweden in regulation on Saturday to have any chance of advancing. They play at 1 PM. USA and Canada are in primetime at 8 PM.