Sullivan, Team USA bring 'American swagger' in rout of Finland
Team USA had a fine start to their 4 Nations Face-Off opener here against Finland at the Bell Centre on Friday ... but Mike Sullivan knew there was more he could be getting out of his group. He made the call that helped pave the way for USA's 6-1 win to move into first place in the tournament standings.
The score was tied at first intermission -- Henri Jokiharju gave the Finns the first lead 7:31 into the game, only for Brady Tkachuk to answer and tie the game three minutes later.
When the game started, Sullivan had the Tkachuk brothers Brady and Matthew on separate lines. Matthew skated on the right side of the second line centered by Jack Eichel and opposite Kyle Connor. Brady was on the left side of the third line, alongside J.T. Miller and Matt Boldy.
It was right around the midway point of the second period in a tie game that Sullivan made the decision to shake up his lines and unit the Tkachuk brothers, bumping Brady up to the second line and moving Connor down to the third in Brady's place.
The move paid off. The new third line quickly brought the go-ahead goal, with Connor finding Brock Faber at the point, setting up Faber to take the shot that Boldy tipped in for the lead. The Americans carried that lead into the second intermission, and the game broke wide-open in the third.
The U.S. started the third period with power play time carried over from the second, and Matthew fired a shot past Juuse Saros from the top of the right circle. Jake Guentzel added to the lead 11 seconds later with a shot from the left circle. Just over two minutes later, Matthew recovered a puck after a Finland turnover and passed it to Eichel, while Brady drove to the net. Eichel set up Brady at the net-front, and Brady tucked the puck past Saros' pads. Matthew added another goal on the power play just after the midway point of the third.
The U.S. was a different team in the third, and the united Tkachuks led the way. Matthew's eight shots on goal led the team, with Brady's five ranking second.
Sullivan said afterward that the coaching staff did have discussions pre-tournament about having the Tkachuks on the same line, but with such limited time together before the games start, there's not much opportunity to test out combinations. They opted to start one way, then "watch and see" and be open to making adjustments on the fly. This adjustment paid off in a big way.
"We made a switch, we put them with Jack Eichel," Sullivan said. "You know, I think they just have a funny way of dragging us into the fight."
The U.S. team in the third period after the change showed some of the "American swagger" Sullivan hoped to instill in this team.
The Canadian Sportsnet feed of the game showed some of Sullivan's pregame talk to his team in the locker room. "An unbelievable opportunity, but we've got to go out and earn it," Sullivan said. "Nothing's inevitable, we've got to earn every second. We've got to make sure we're ready from the drop of the puck. Let's not have a 'wait and see' attitude. It's all about attitude. We need that American swagger."
Sullivan often uses the term "swagger" when talking about the way he wants the Penguins to play. I asked Sullivan afterward what exactly "American swagger" means to him, and he called it "a certain attitude that it takes to win" first and foremost.
"We've got a competitive group," he added. "I think there's a lot of talented teams, and we talked from Day 1 about the importance of bringing a certain attitude and the importance of becoming a team, and that talent alone isn't going to win this thing. There's a certain pride in being an American, and I think there's a certain attitude, a certain swagger that we can bring to the game that is reflective of the attributes that we've all learned from our older generations."
The in-game adjustment to put the Tkachuks together and help bring that "swagger" more out of the group currently has the U.S. atop the Four Nations Face-Off standings, a point ahead of Canada for earning this win in regulation.
They've got Canada up next on Saturday. And if this team plays the way they did in the second half of the game, it should make for a heck of a game.
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Taylor Haase
6:03 am - 02.14.2025MontréalSullivan, Team USA bring 'American swagger' in rout of Finland
Team USA had a fine start to their 4 Nations Face-Off opener here against Finland at the Bell Centre on Friday ... but Mike Sullivan knew there was more he could be getting out of his group. He made the call that helped pave the way for USA's 6-1 win to move into first place in the tournament standings.
The score was tied at first intermission -- Henri Jokiharju gave the Finns the first lead 7:31 into the game, only for Brady Tkachuk to answer and tie the game three minutes later.
When the game started, Sullivan had the Tkachuk brothers Brady and Matthew on separate lines. Matthew skated on the right side of the second line centered by Jack Eichel and opposite Kyle Connor. Brady was on the left side of the third line, alongside J.T. Miller and Matt Boldy.
It was right around the midway point of the second period in a tie game that Sullivan made the decision to shake up his lines and unit the Tkachuk brothers, bumping Brady up to the second line and moving Connor down to the third in Brady's place.
The move paid off. The new third line quickly brought the go-ahead goal, with Connor finding Brock Faber at the point, setting up Faber to take the shot that Boldy tipped in for the lead. The Americans carried that lead into the second intermission, and the game broke wide-open in the third.
The U.S. started the third period with power play time carried over from the second, and Matthew fired a shot past Juuse Saros from the top of the right circle. Jake Guentzel added to the lead 11 seconds later with a shot from the left circle. Just over two minutes later, Matthew recovered a puck after a Finland turnover and passed it to Eichel, while Brady drove to the net. Eichel set up Brady at the net-front, and Brady tucked the puck past Saros' pads. Matthew added another goal on the power play just after the midway point of the third.
The U.S. was a different team in the third, and the united Tkachuks led the way. Matthew's eight shots on goal led the team, with Brady's five ranking second.
Sullivan said afterward that the coaching staff did have discussions pre-tournament about having the Tkachuks on the same line, but with such limited time together before the games start, there's not much opportunity to test out combinations. They opted to start one way, then "watch and see" and be open to making adjustments on the fly. This adjustment paid off in a big way.
"We made a switch, we put them with Jack Eichel," Sullivan said. "You know, I think they just have a funny way of dragging us into the fight."
The U.S. team in the third period after the change showed some of the "American swagger" Sullivan hoped to instill in this team.
The Canadian Sportsnet feed of the game showed some of Sullivan's pregame talk to his team in the locker room. "An unbelievable opportunity, but we've got to go out and earn it," Sullivan said. "Nothing's inevitable, we've got to earn every second. We've got to make sure we're ready from the drop of the puck. Let's not have a 'wait and see' attitude. It's all about attitude. We need that American swagger."
Sullivan often uses the term "swagger" when talking about the way he wants the Penguins to play. I asked Sullivan afterward what exactly "American swagger" means to him, and he called it "a certain attitude that it takes to win" first and foremost.
"We've got a competitive group," he added. "I think there's a lot of talented teams, and we talked from Day 1 about the importance of bringing a certain attitude and the importance of becoming a team, and that talent alone isn't going to win this thing. There's a certain pride in being an American, and I think there's a certain attitude, a certain swagger that we can bring to the game that is reflective of the attributes that we've all learned from our older generations."
The in-game adjustment to put the Tkachuks together and help bring that "swagger" more out of the group currently has the U.S. atop the Four Nations Face-Off standings, a point ahead of Canada for earning this win in regulation.
They've got Canada up next on Saturday. And if this team plays the way they did in the second half of the game, it should make for a heck of a game.
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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