BOSTON -- Matthew and Brady Tkachuk know how to fire up their teammates and fans, and they did a great job helping the United States reach the final of the first-ever 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
But they might have provided Canada with a little extra motivation entering Thursday night's championship game at TD Garden.
When Team USA beat Canada 3-1 in Montreal during the round robin stage of the tournament last week, Matthew Tkachuk said after the game, “The message we wanted to send is, ‘It’s our time right now.'”
The Tkachuks also helped spark the fireworks we saw at the start of that memorable game, which included three fights in the first nine seconds.
Canada got its revenge in Boston on Thursday night, winning the 4 Nations championship 3-2 in overtime when Connor McDavid scored 8:18 into the extra period.
Following the win, Bruins forward Brad Marchand had some interesting comments about the Tkachuk brothers.
"They play their game. They do what they do. Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media, it bites you," Marchand said. "You can do that during the season, but when you're playing best-on-best it's different, and they got a little bit ahead of themselves.
"But they're great players and there's not many guys in the league that play the way they do and they're extremely effective, but when you start giving teams ammo, it can work against you as well.
"They're going to have long, great careers. I think you saw how effective they can be at every level. They do it during the season, they did it in this tournament, and they're competitors. They're a big reason why that team is what they are."
Brady Tkachuk played very well in Thursday's final. He scored in the first period and set a physical tone throughout the game. Matthew was unable to make much of an impact and didn't play in the third period or overtime because of an injury suffered against Canada last week. He was clearly less than 100 percent healthy.
Marchand and Canada got the last laugh this time, but the Tkachuk brothers won't have to wait long to get another chance to lead the United States in an international tournament.
NHL players are finally going back to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. So while the intensity of the USA-Canada rivalry might subside a bit as the NHL trade deadline and Stanley Cup playoffs become the primary focus of hockey fans in the coming weeks and months, it will all re-ignite less than a year from now in Italy.
