The New Jersey Devils started the 4 Nations Face-Off with three players participating. Jack Hughes is with Team USA, Jesper Bratt is with Team Sweden, and Erik Haula is with Team Finland.
Monday was the last day of round-robin play at the event. Team Canada took down Team Finland in a game where one of the teams could advance by winning in regulation. Canada got out to a 4-0 lead and almost blew it by they held on for the 5-3 victory.
That means that Haula and Finland are out. Before they were even able to play their third game, Bratt and Team Sweden were eliminated as well. Their head-to-head loss to Canada made them unable to catch them in the standings, no matter what happened in their final game.
Canada will have a rematch with Jack Hughes and Team USA in the championship on Thursday night. Before that, Sweden still had to play their third and final game against Team USA. Devils linemates Hughes and Bratt will face each other.
Although neither team would gain or lose anything from this game, they each gave it their all for their country.
Both squads were impacted by players missing. Sweden was without Mika Zibanejad and Rickard Rakell and Team USA started without Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, and Charlie McAvoy. Matthews was announced to be out during warmups, while the other two were ruled out hours before puck drop.
Early in the game, Brady Tkachuk left due to an injury. With the game meaning nothing to Team USA, they sat him down despite him trying to go. There was no reason to push anything with the championship game against Canada looming.
Two Devils players will become spectators during the 4 Nations Face-Off Final
Sweden ended up winning 2-1. New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt scored the go-ahead goal that served as the game-winner. For doing that, Bratt was named to be the player of the game.
Bratt and Sweden didn’t have the tournament (as a team) that they wanted to. He was very good on a personal level but the team only won this game against Team USA. They let the first two get away in overtime and it cost them.
Now, Hughes and Team USA will have their rematch with Canada on Thursday night. We’ll see how the health of each team impacts the game. It’s on Hughes to bring a win back to Jersey with Bratt and Haula out.