(WGR Sports Radio 550) - Matthew and Brady Tkachuk had never played together on the same team until Thursday in Montreal for Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
With former Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel as their center, both brothers scored two goals in a 6-1 win over Team Finland.
Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju gave Finland a 1-0 lead when his shot from the right circle went in off of Kyle Connor’s stick.
It only took Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) 2:50 to tie the score at 1-1 when he fanned on his shot attempt and got past the net, but banked it in off of the pad of Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators).
After 40 minutes, the score was only 2-1 for Team USA. In the second period, the shots were only 8-6 for the U.S., and Finland was hanging in there.
U.S. goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) never really had to make a tough save all night, stopping 20-of-21 shots faced.
Finland’s lack of an offensive push finally caught up to them.
With three seconds left in the second period, Finnish defenseman Olli Maatta (Utah Hockey Club) took a penalty, and just 15 seconds into the third period, Team USA had its first two-goal lead as Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers) connected for his first goal.
Just 11 seconds later, it was 4-1 thanks to a goal from Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay Lightning) from the left circle that Saros needed to stop.
Both Tkachuks scored again, giving Team USA four goals in the third period.
Matthew Tkachuk had three points, Brady Tkachuk had two, and Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights) had two assists, giving the line four goals and three assists for seven points.
The Tkachuk brothers combined for 13 shots on goal and 18 shot attempts. Brady also had eight hits.
U.S. defenseman Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets) had three assists in 21:45 of work on ice.
Team USA has a big game against Canada coming up Saturday, and they didn’t tire their players out in this game. The only other player to play more than 20 minutes of ice time was Jaccob Slavin (Carolina Hurricanes), who played 20:55.
Jokiharju played 19:11, and had the one goal, two shots and three giveaways.
With the game Saros had, it wouldn’t surprise me if Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gets the start Saturday against Sweden.
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Since this was a regulation win, the United States has three points, while Canada has two, Sweden has one and Finland none.