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Jake Guentzel's congratulated on his empty-net goal by Jack Eichel, Jaccob Slavin and more U.S. teammates as Sidney Crosby skates by Saturday night in Montreal.

Canada's debut against Sweden here at the 4 Nation Face-Off in Montreal earlier this week made for an incredible atmosphere and an incredible start. Mario Lemieux surprised his his hometown crowd to deafening roars, and the home country struck on the power play in the opening minute on a sequence from their big guns: Connor McDavid to Sidney Crosby to Nathan MacKinnon.

"A couple of nights ago, if you were going to tell me something was going to top that (start), I would not have believed you," Canada coach Jon Cooper said.

But the start in this game a game that eventually saw the U.S. come out on top over Canada by a score of 3-1, clinching a spot in Thursday's championship game?

"That topped it," Cooper said.

As was the case for the earlier Canada game this week, the crowd was into it before the puck even dropped. The building was packed by warmups, with roars from the crowd when Canada took the ice and throughout. It was a hostile crowd toward the Americans, with thousands of boos raining down during warmups, player introduction and the anthem. 

It seemed it wasn't possible for the atmosphere to get more electric ... and then the first nine seconds of the game happened.

Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel dropped the gloves off the opening faceoff, with Hagel's takedown igniting the home crowd. Off the next drop of the puck, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett fought. The third attempt at a faceoff allowed for six seconds of actual hockey before J.T. Miller and Colton Parayko dropped the gloves themselves:

"You know why (the start) topped (last game's start)?" Cooper began. "Because it wasn't planned. That wasn't two coaches throwing guys over saying, 'This is happening.' None of that happened. That was as organic as it gets. And it was probably, I guess, 10 years of no international hockey exhaled in a minute and a half."

Cooper is partially right -- it wasn't planned by the coaches. But the Tkachuks admitted postgame that they were in a group text with Miller earlier in the game and made their plans for the early fights. It was the first best-on-best game against Canada in nearly a decade, the first such opportunity for many of these players, and they were were in the Canadians' building. The Americans wanted to set the tone early.

"We needed to send a message," Matthew said. "We're here in Montreal on a Saturday night. We want it to be our time, and that message started right from the get-go."

The game didn't unravel into brawls -- it was chippy, but the fights ended there. What ensured over the next 59 minutes and 51 seconds was what was hoped for: The top two teams in this tournament and their rosters stacked with stars playing the most exciting hockey game in recent memory. 

McDavid opened the scoring on a breakaway 5:31 into the game, finishing on a backhander that beat Connor Hellebuyck. Five minutes later, Charlie McAvoy lit up McDavid with a massive hit along the boards and started a sequence that ended with Jake Guentzel tying the game on a snap shot from the left circle that snuck through the pads of Jordan Binnington. Dylan Larkin gave the U.S. the lead in the second when he capitalized on a play that started with a Crosby turnover. Canada pushed hard in the remainder of the second and third periods for the tying goal, at times deploying Crosby, McDavid and MacKinnon as a single line. But the U.S. played an incredibly tight game defensively, clogging up the neutral zone and neutralizing much of the threat those big guns presented. Canada pulled Binnington for the extra attacker in the final two minutes and sent out Crosby, McDavid and MacKinnon, only for Guentzel to fire the puck into the empty net and seal the win:

There are Stanley Cup champions and players who have represented their country at various levels littered throughout these lineups. These are players who have played in big games.

The atmosphere and intensity of this one was rivaled by only a handful of instances.

"This is one of those games that you look back on," Matthew Tkachuk said. "Just the whole environment, the day leading into it, the team over there, the team that we have. Obviously, the start and goals and big blocks and some of the hits were out of this world. I think this game, along with that Game 7 (to win the Stanley Cup with the Panthers) last year were my two favorite experiences I've had."

I asked Guentzel about the atmosphere specifically, and if he could recall ever playing in a game like that.

"Not really," he said. "Playing in the Stanley Cup Final is somewhat like that. But this was another level, just the whole crowd against you. That was pretty fun ... We wanted to win this game. We kind of feel like the villain here."

This is what the NHL and its players have been missing since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey -- actual best-on-best. There was a lot of talk from fans leading up to this tournament about this being a "glorified All-Star Game." Fake tournament, made-up tournament, things along those lines. The players and staff themselves never felt that way -- Mike Sullivan told me when we were chatting on Friday that he "never got" that line of comments. "I know what this means to these guys," he said.

A tournament doesn't have to have the prestige of something like the Olympics to produce a highly-entertaining, competitive, skilled and intense game like this. The natural rivalries like USA-Canada, and Finland-Sweden earlier in the afternoon are going to be great hockey and great competition no matter the setting.

It took nearly a decade, but the NHL has caught onto that. The 4 Nations Face-Off looks to be a one-off, with the new future plans being to bring back the World Cup as a mid-season tournament and expand it beyond four teams. It will run every four years, opposite the Olympic schedule -- 2026 Olympics, 2028 World Cup, 2030 Olympics, 2032 World Cup, etc.

In the meantime, this already-outstanding 4 Nations Face-Off is only halfway done. Team USA advanced to the championship game, where Finland, Sweden and Canada all remain possible opponents. USA and Sweden will face off on Monday in Boston, as will Finland and Canada, followed by the championship Thursday.

For this U.S. team, having already advanced to that final game is meaningful. It doesn't matter that they're playing for a new unnamed trophy in a tournament concocted last year. They're playing for their country, and they want to finish the job.

"We came here to try to win a championship," Sullivan said. "We believe in this team. We feel like we've got a good group. We think we've got a terrific hockey team."