Latest on Matthew Tkachuk's Status For Team USA

It will go down as one of the most memorable starts to an international hockey game in history. And it was all instigated by Team USA's Matthew Tkachuk, when he dropped the gloves just two seconds into their big showdown with Team Canada on Saturday night to set the tempo for what would be a 3-1 U.S. victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

But Tkachuk would not be around for most of the third period, as he left the game with an undisclosed lower-body injury.

Now we're learning more about his status as the U.S. gets set for what is now a meaningless third game of the round-robin against Sweden, in advance of their much-anticipated showdown in the tournament Final against Canada on Thursday night.

Fluto Shinzawa reports in The Athletic that Tkachuk will not dress for Monday night's game. But the Stanley Cup champ's younger brother Brady, who got into the next scrap Saturday night just one second of play later, says he fully expects big bro to be there on Thursday.

He’ll be good to go for Thursday. Smart for him to rest up, knowing we’re already in for Thursday. He’ll be good to go.

For what it's worth, Matthew arrived for Monday's game looking none the worse for wear. It's clearly a minor injury, whatever it is.

Matthew Tkachuk in the building for the first USA game on home soil for #4Nations pic.twitter.com/4zi8hRwhT7
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 17, 2025

Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers will replace Matthew Tkachuk in the lineup for Monday. Tkachuk missed the final 12:36 of the game against Canada on Saturday, after telling the coaches that he couldn't return.

Matthew Tkachuk looks like he’s telling Torts he can’t go anymore in this game. #4Nations pic.twitter.com/7DPFTHm0GA
— The Green Zone (@GreenZoneSK) February 16, 2025

Tkachuk has been one of the stars for the U.S. in this event, racking up a three-point effort to lead Team USA to a 6-1 win over Finland in their first game, and then setting the tone for the emotional win over Canada, right from the opening face-off.

One of multiple fights to start USA vs. Canada. First up, Matthew Tkachuk versus Brandon Hagel. (Hagel did way better than I would have thought.) pic.twitter.com/9D0RBElcUN
— David Castillo (@DavidCastilloAC) February 16, 2025

Even Keith Tkachuk, father of Matthew & Brady, who had an early-game fight of his own in a big USA-Canada match in 1996, could only shake his head at what his sons did on Saturday night.