Canada - USA meet in 4 Nations Face-Off in the tournament's most anticipated game

Just minutes after the game between Sweden and Finland finished, Team Canada's equipment sat outside the Finnish locker room, waiting to start their preparation for their matchup against the Americans.

What more could you ask for in an international tournament, a matchup between Canada and the Americans always promises to be one of the best games of the entire tournament. These bitter rivals leave it all on the ice, and it never ends up being a normal game. There will be a little bit of everything, and the anticipation and patience from the players who wanted this best-on-best tournament for nine years will finally get the game they have dreamed about.

The United States led the tournament in points with three, after winning their opener against Finland in overtime. Finland and Sweden each have two points, after Finland suffered a regulation loss, and had an overtime win, while the Swedes have a regulation loss, and overtime loss - bringing them to two points. The winner of Canada-USA will lead the tournament in points, with only one more game remaining in the round-robin.

If Canada had one guy who was universally loved in Montreal and by fans of Hockey Canada, it would be Carey Price. And before the biggest game of America and Canada's tournament, Price is the perfect guy to pump the crowd and Team Canada up simultaneously.

The fans are dialed in and expectations are high for this matchup between two teams that were assembled to play for gold in this tournament. It's going to be a good game even with Quinn Hughes out of the tournament, and Cale Makar sidelined with the flu. Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley gets the nod for Canada.

Here we go

Canada's starting five are Anthony Cirelli, Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel, while the United States answered back with Brady Tkachuk, Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk up front. On the Backend, the United States iced Zach Werenski and Brock Faber. Canada's starting defence pair was Josh Morrissey and Colton Parayko.

Between the pipes - Connor Hellebuyck got his second-consecutive start, and Jordan Binnington got the nod for Canada.

Two seconds into the game, and there's a scrap at centre ice. Former Stanley Cup rivals Hagel of Tampa and Matthew Tkachuk of Florida drop the gloves. They tried to set the tone in a game that was expected to be full of fireworks. Win goes to Hagel.

At the drop of the next faceoff, Matthew's teammate Sam Bennett dropped the gloves with his brother Brady. Less than three seconds into the period, there have been four 5 minute majors handed out.

And then, after a scrum in front of Binnington, another fight broke out between Colton Parayko and J.T Miller.

If you need to catch your breath after about one minute of play, then you are just like me. What an incredible start between two juggernaut teams. These are the two great teams going head-to-head, and this game matters to both sides. Mike Sullivan and Jon Cooper have coached Stanley Cup-winning teams, and their country's squad each have that pedigree at every practice.

Absolute theatre on the ice, this game is going to go down as an instant classic, with every goal, hit and fight being magnified.

Connor McDavid was given way too much space to break in, pushing American defender Charlie McAvoy back towards his net. McDavid then faked out McAvoy and deked to his backhand, finishing top shelf on Hellebuyck. McDavid had the Bell Centre at the edge of their seats, and the arena was rocking after he scored.

I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't be watching this game. Hughes and Makar aren't there, but I expect the American and Canadian will battle internationally shortly.

At the mid-way mark of the first period, shots are 4-3, but the States had some energy after McAvoy landed a massive hit on McDavid.

Jake Guentzel broke into the zone, and scored a five hole squeaker through Binnington's wickets. Jack Eichel tallied the lone assist, his third of the tournament.

With 7:06 on the clock, captain Canada Sidney Crosby took a hooking penalty against Matt Boldy. The Americans were swarming Canada in their zone, and Binnington grabbed some momentum with a huge save point blank in the slot.

Canada draws the penalty on a tripping infraction for Guentzel against Morrissey. United States are playing with fire, and expecting not to get burned. That is a poor decision to give the Canadians a man advantage. But USA's penalty kill and Hellebuyck have been great - keeping the game tied 1-1 at intermission.

Dylan Larkin fired a wrister over Binnington's blocker coming in on the right side as a left shot. He beat Binnington with a perfectly placed shot between the blocker and pad. USA pulled ahead on their 18th shot of the game.

The teams battled back and forth - Canada trying to draw even, and the USA looking to stick to their game plan. Strong defence, quick transition and lots of shots. Canada trails the USA 2-1 heading into the second intermission.

Hughes has a surplus of good, young left defence prospects, and it could serve him well at some point. Trading up in the draft, leveraging a defenseman and a pick, to draft in the top 10, could be fun. It's also totally doable for Hughes, who has a loaded left defence pool.

Canada has made a strong push, leading the Americans in the shot department 21-19 about one-quarter of the way through the third period.

With 11:35 to go in the third, Brock Nelson poked at a loose puck, and caught the entire Canadian lines' attention. Sam Bennett answered back around the 10:20 mark with a huge open ice hit on Team USA defenseman Jaccob Slavin,

The crowd is getting rowdy and with Canada buzzing in the American zone, Drew Doughty showed a little rust muffing on a pass.

Nearing the final three minutes of the game, Canada is down 2-1, but they can't break down USA's defence, and get some high-danger scoring chances. Hellebuyck has been brilliant, even if Canada could break down their defensive wall. Guentzel notched an empty net goal for his second of the game, putting the game out of reach at 3-1.