The first two games of the 4 Nations Face-Off are complete, meaning that all four participating nations have had a chance to play at least one game. Only a depleted group of Vancouver Canucks players were confirmed to be attending the tournament, anyway, but how did they do?
Playing in the first game against Canada, star Canucks center and Sweden forward Elias Pettersson failed to make much of an impact. In a 4-3 overtime loss, Pettersson registered no points, one shot on goal, and just 16:36 of ice time, including 0:59 on the power play.
Notably, Pettersson was just 2/12 on faceoffs (16.7%) and was clearly Sweden's third choice center behind Joel Eriksson-Ek and Mika Zibanejad, who each played north of 17 minutes. Pettersson and Sweden will face Finland at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.
In the second game, on Thursday night, the United States cruised to a 6-1 win over Finland in the absence of superstar Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes, who was a last-second omission due to injury. Operating on the top power play unit in place of Hughes, Columbus defenceman Zach Werenski recorded two assists and three assists in total on the night.
Former Canucks forward J.T. Miller brought a physical presence to the game, as he usually does, but fell out of favor with the coaching staff as the game wore on. Miller was a plus-2 in 12:50, which included 2:36 of penalty kill time, and won 6/10 faceoffs. USA mostly ran a balanced attack, spearheaded by Auston Matthews, Jake Eichel, and the Tkachuk brothers, especially in the contest.
Unsurprisingly drawing the start for Finland, Nashville goalie Juuse Saros allowed six goals on 32 shots - with all six coming after Henri Jokiharju gave the Finns a 1-0 lead - sowing some doubt in his future in the crease. In the event Saros is replaced for Saturday's matchup with Sweden, Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen would take the starter's mantle from his former Predators teammate and fellow countryman.