The entire hockey world was in two places on Saturday night: either at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, or circled around their TV, watching the game taking place there. It was USA vs. Canada in a "best-on-best" format for the first time since 2016. This was the biggest reason why anyone was looking forward to the 4 Nations Face-Off. The U.S. was trying to beat Canada for the first time in 15 years, ironically the last time New Jersey Devils great Martin Brodeur was the starter for Team Canada.
This was the legends of Canada versus and up-and-coming America squad full of superstar talent. It was Connor McDavid vs. Auston Matthews. It was Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon vs. the Tkachuk brothers. Of course, Devils fans were paying attention to Jack Hughes, who has been on a line with Auston Matthews and Jake Guentzel.
Jack Hughes, Team U.S.A. take down Canada on Saturday night
Because Hughes was on such a star-studded line, he gets to be on the ice for amazing plays again and again. That happened again on Saturday night, as he was able to play a passenger role when Guentzel scored a game-tying goal for the U.S.
It made up for Hughes being on the ice for Connor McDavid's goal against. Hughes didn't do anything wrong, per se, but the Devils star doesn't ever want to see goals scored against him, even against the best player in the universe.
Eventually, Dylan Larkin scored what would be the game winner, taking a pass from Matt Boldy and beating Jordan Binnington clean. It was a huge goal for the Americans, obviously, and it lifted them to victory. Guentzel eventually scored a goal on an empty net, and the red, white, and blue took home the win.
Not only was this huge for the U.S.-Canada rivalry, but this was huge for the standings. The U.S. is the only team in this tournament with a regulation win, and they have two of them. So, they have six points while every other team is sitting with two points a piece. The U.S. has a guaranteed spot in the championship game no matter what happens on Monday.
Hughes will play in Monday's game against his linemate Jesper Bratt, but the results don't matter for the U.S. They absolutely matter for Sweden, who needs a regulation win and for the Canada-Finland game to go to overtime. We could see the Americans to take their foot off the gas against Sweden, especially with Matthew Tkachuk dealing with an injury he suffered against Canada, but the U.S. might still put their best foot forward.
If Canada wins in regulation on Monday, then the U.S. is welcoming their rivals for the next bought in this matchup. We can take more of this as the game was one of the best of the year. Hopefully next time, we see Hughes on the score sheet.