BOSTON -- Sweden rallied after falling behind just 35 seconds into the game and Samuel Ersson made 31 saves Monday night to beat the United States 2-1 in the 4 Nations Face-Off round-robin finale, handing the title game-bound Americans their first loss of the tournament.

The nightcap meant nothing to either the Americans or Swedes: The U.S. had already clinched a spot in Thursday night's championship game against Canada, which beat Finland earlier Monday, and Sweden needed Canada to falter to have a chance of making the final.

With some fans wearing powdered wigs and colonial-era tricorn hats, the Boston crowd bellowed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the game -- a response to the Canadians who booed the U.S. national anthem before the early matchups in Montreal. Chants of "U-S-A!" rang out through the TD Garden in the final minutes, with goalie Jake Oettinger pulled for an extra skater, but the Americans couldn't beat Ersson to force overtime.

Chris Kreider gave the Americans the lead in the opening minute, but Gustav Nyquist tied it a dozen minutes later, and Jesper Bratt gave Sweden the lead with less than a minute remaining in the first period. The next two periods remained scoreless despite the Americans having an overall 32-23 edge in shots on goal.

The Americans reached the final by winning their first two round-robin games, against Canada and Finland. The North American rivals will have a change to reprise the fight-filled round-robin matchup that was the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final hockey game since 2019.

The Americans started the game a player down with Auston Matthews out, and then Brady Tkachuk left in the second period after colliding with Ersson in the crease. More disappointing for the Boston fans was Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy being scratched from the lineup.

If you don't shoot, you don't score. It's a basic mantra you probably heard from your under-8s coach.

Well, there are 139 players in the Premier League alone who shoot more than the center forward of Manchester United. That's right: One hundred one footballers who have played as many minutes or more as Rasmus Højlund, but have a higher shots-per-90 number.

Put differently, there are 187 outfield players who have played at least 1,200 minutes, like Højlund. More than half of them have taken more shots on goal than he has -- a list that includes defenders, holding midfielders and other players who don't spend much time at all in the opposing penalty area.

When it comes to understanding why Manchester United have trouble scoring goals -- only four teams have scored fewer than their 28 -- one reason could be that number: 1.20, the number of shots their center forward takes every 90 minutes.

If you don't shoot, you don't score.

Compare Højlund's 1.20 to his peers at other top clubs: Erling Haaland (3.82), Nicolas Jackson (3.24), Ollie Watkins (3.26), Alexander Isak (3.09), Luis Díaz (2.71), Darwin Núñez (2.60), Dominic Solanke (2.59). Heck, even the much-maligned Kai Havertz clocks in at 2.54.

Obviously goals (let alone shots) aren't the only metric to judge a center forward. But when you have a central striker -- especially in a 3-4-2-1 system -- who doesn't score much (he has two league goals) in part because he rarely shoots, it's worth diving into further. Because you're tempted to conclude that the issue is either Højlund or Ruben Amorim's system or some combination of the two.

Is it the system? Well, Amorim played the same system at Sporting CP, and his center forward there, Viktor Gyökeres, is averaging 4.59 shots per 90 minutes this season after notching 3.52 last season (and scoring 51 league goals since August 2023, which is more than four times as many as Højlund). Sometimes Amorim uses another center forward, Joshua Zirkzee. He isn't having the sort of season to write home about -- and has spent time in attacking midfield too, further away from goal -- but he still manages 1.96 per game, nearly twice as many as Højlund.

So is it Højlund? You're tempted to think so. He doesn't shoot much under Amorim and didn't shoot much under Erik ten Hag (it was marginally better at 1.40, but still very much subpar.) For that matter, he didn't shoot much in the season he spent at Sturm Graz in Austria, either, registering 2.10 shots per 90. The only time his number nosed above 2.5 is in the six months he was at Atalanta, when he reached 2.65, albeit on a far more attacking, high-tempo team.

If you don't shoot, you don't score.

Does this make Højlund the culprit of all the club's attacking woes? No. Obviously, there are other factors at play here. At United, he's alongside midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who averages 2.98 per 90, and that's bound to drive down his numbers. Not to mention, of course, that a center forward's job isn't just shooting on goal: Roberto Firmino didn't shoot much or score much for Liverpool, and he did rather well. Plus, Højlund just turned 22, and it's safe to assume he can improve with age.

That said, there's clearly a problem here. A central striker who shoots so infrequently either isn't getting himself into positions to shoot, lacks the confidence to shoot, or plays for a team that doesn't provide him the right kind of service to get into scoring situations. (Or, possibly, all of the above.)

It's up to Højlund to improve. It's up to Amorim to fix what United do in the final third. And if there is no uptick in his shots (and because they're correlated, his goals), it's up to the club to decide when to cut their losses and find somebody who will fire on goal at the right time.

If you don't shoot, you don't score.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Third-ranked Duke defeated Virginia 80-62 on Monday night but lost key reserve forward Maliq Brown in the process.

Brown dislocated his left shoulder with 1:21 left in the first half, Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer said, and did not return. He was expected to get imaging done later Monday.

"He's a big loss for us," Scheyer said. "Find out what the deal is and then go from there. I don't know more than that."

The 6-foot-9 junior, who transferred from Syracuse, is second on the team with 30 steals and third with nine blocked shots.

"He's been a great teammate," Kon Knueppel said. "He's very unselfish and [a] great passer. ... He's very, very impactful for our team."

The game -- which was Duke's third straight victory -- was a homecoming for Brown, who grew up in Culpeper, an hour away.

Brown had two points, two assists and a rebound in 10 minutes. He appeared to injure his left arm reaching into a passing lane to deflect a ball.

An hour after the game, Brown emerged from the locker room to greet family and Duke fans. He took photos with his arm in a sling before heading to the team bus.

With Brown sidelined, Duke turned to Patrick Ngongba II, who scored eight points and grabbed a rebound in 11 minutes.

Scheyer said Ngongba has developed over the season and will be ready to contribute if Brown's injury keeps him out for the Blue Devils' next game, which is against Illinois on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

Scheyer noted Ngongba played significant minutes in the Blue Devils' win over Wake Forest in January.

Scheyer said that players who aren't getting much playing time in his program compete in "stay ready" games to keep them sharp and prepared in the event they're pressed into action.

"I've seen such growth from him throughout the season," Scheyer said. "He's been in some big-time moments."

Team USA forward Brady Tkachuk left the Americans' 4 Nations Face-Off game against Sweden on Monday night with an undisclosed injury.

Tkachuk, who plays for the Ottawa Senators, lost an edge while driving to the Sweden net in the first period and slammed his side into the goal cage just 7:37 into the game. He went back to the U.S. bench in discomfort and eventually left for the trainers' room.

He returned to the ice for a short 14-second shift later in the period but did not come back out with the team for the second period. USA Hockey announced that he would not return to the game at Boston's TD Garden.

Tkachuk had five shifts in the game for a total of 1:55 in ice time. He had two goals in the Americans' win over Finland last week.

It's another injury concern for the Americans, who will play for the 4 Nation Face-Off championship Thursday in a rematch against archrival Canada.

Matthew Tkachuk, Brady's older brother, missed Monday's game out of injury precaution. The Florida Panthers star sat out the final 12:36 of the third period of Team USA's win over Canada because of a lower-body injury.

The Tkachuk brothers helped set the tone for that 3-1 victory with two fights within the first 3 seconds. They play on either side of center Jack Eichel to form one of the more effective U.S. scoring lines.

Auston Matthews, the team's No. 1 center, and defenseman Charlie McAvoy also sat out against Sweden for injury precautions.

Matthews had some upper body soreness after the win over Canada. He has one assist in two games for the U.S., averaging 20:16 in ice time. McAvoy has averaged 19:36 in two games with no points.

The U.S. inserted New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider and Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson into their lineup against Sweden, playing with 17 skaters (11 forwards, 6 defensemen) in the game.

Matthew Tkachuk, Matthews and McAvoy are all expected to return for the championship game against Canada. Brady Tkachuk's status is unclear.

With a berth in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game on the line, Canada started off hot with two quick goals from Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon en route to a 5-3 win over Finland.

There was late drama, as the Finns scored three goals in the third period to pull within a goal, before Canada's captain Sidney Crosby scored an empty-net goal to seal the deal.

The win pushes Canada's round-robin point total to five, putting them out of reach of Sweden:

Here are grades for Canada and Finland, including the biggest takeaways, the key player to watch in the next game for Canada and lingering questions for both countries.

Grading the teams

Canada: A-

This was the Canada we expected to see at 4 Nations. The Canadians were immediately engaged on both sides of the puck and finally got their star-studded offense rolling with three first period goals from Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point.

Having Cale Makar back in the lineup -- after he missed Saturday's matchup against the U.S. with an illness -- gave the Canadians' defense a noted boost, as he and Colorado teammate Devon Toews were excellent anchoring the team's blue line.

Coach Jon Cooper put Jordan Binnington back in net for this one, and Binnington rewarded his coach's confidence with a solid showing between the pipes. And Cooper's changes to his forward groups -- particularly creating a top line of McDavid, Point and Mark Stone -- paid off with a more balanced attack.

The key, though, was that Canada (mostly) didn't make the sort of costly mistakes (i.e. turnovers) they did against Sweden and the U.S. Canada was solid in every aspect and appeared to be at their most dangerous heading into a final clash with the Americans.

Finland: C+

The Finns looked deflated when McDavid scored Canada's opening goal early in the first period, and they could never quite reignite the swagger that carried them past Sweden. At least not until the game's final minutes, when they scored a pair of 6-on-5 goals to cut the Canadian lead to 4-3.

But the surge -- driven by Mikael Granlund, scoring twice in the final three minutes -- was too late for Finland. By the time Kevin Lankinen had allowed four goals (and was replaced by Juuse Saros) in the second period, Finland was in an hole against an overwhelming amount of talent on the other side.

The Finns' smothering forecheck had been their calling card throughout 4 Nations play, but Canada also countered with their best defense showing of the tournament, taking away opportunities for Finland to establish extensive zone time. What pockets of pressure Finland did generate around Binnington produced nothing on the scoresheet. Even Finland's power play in the second period that might have sparked some momentum came up empty.

In the end, Canada made the most of its opportunities when Finland simply could not.

What we learned

Canada finds chemistry -- and balance

Canada managed just one goal against the U.S. despite a star-studded lineup of offensive firepower. So, coach Jon Cooper made adjustments against Finland to start maximizing more of the team's talent, and it worked -- Canada's new top line of Connor McDavid, Mark Stone and Braydon Point produced two of the the game's first three goals (courtesy of McDavid and Point), and MacKinnon added two goals from the second line.

That sort of scoring explosion is exactly what Canada needed to create confidence and take control from the get-go. In a short event like this, it's not always obvious how players will catch on with one another. Even if it took a few games, tapping into the correct combinations now is everything Canada needed to feel confident going into the final.

The Canadian way on display

Cooper spoke about his team's identity before Monday's game and emphasized that his team shouldn't try to manufacture something from nothing -- which has come back to hurt them in previous games. Canada showed against Finland how much difference discipline and patience can make.

Throughout much of the game, Canada wasn't forcing plays and turning pucks over. There was a clear commitment to highlighting their two-way game, back-checking and breaking the puck out well in transition. The details Canada had skimmed over before were their strength against Finland, and it was how the team prevented the furious Finnish forecheck from becoming a problem.

Now, Canada did get away from those intricacies in the final minutes when Finland pushed back with a pair of goals. But there was also an urgency in Canada's overall performance in this elimination game that bodes well for what's to come against the U.S. There was no saving it for the third period; Canada was ready to play from the start and injected each shift with that energy.

Player to watch for the final

Jordan Binnington
G, Canada

Canada's goaltending was under heavy scrutiny well before the tournament started. And Binnington saved his best performance -- so far -- for Canada's first elimination game. He was excellent when it counted most against Finland -- particularly at the end of the second period -- and what Canada needs is for Binnington to hit copy/paste on that come Thursday night.

Cooper has said repeatedly that Binnington has gotten the call because he gives Canada a chance to win. But it's not just how many saves Binnington makes against the Americans; it's about making the timely stops when they matter most.

And yes, Binnington did give up two 6-on-5 goals late to Finland, but that was also a product of the players in front of him. Bend, don't break. Binnington has improved game-over-game at 4 Nations so far. Canada must hope he has saved the best for last -- especially if Connor Hellebuyck turns up in Vezina Trophy-worthy form at the other end.

Lingering questions

Can Canada crack Connor Hellebuyck?

Canada put its offensive prowess on display early against Finland to take a 4-0 lead, but then didn't score again until Sidney Crosby's empty-net goal in the game's final seconds. Did Canada start preserving its lead too soon when they should have kept pressing for more? It's possible. And that's not the way to beat Team USA.

Hellebuyck looked strong as ever in the first meeting between these teams, and after McDavid registered the game's first goal Saturday night, there was nothing getting past the USA's netminder.

It's imperative that Canada's big boys make Hellebuyck uncomfortable from the start and capitalize on their opportunities; there don't project to be many.

Plus, Canada's role players need to step up like the U.S.'s Dylan Larkin did on Saturday. It's a whole team effort up front that will put Canada over the top. Can they provide it and take some pressure off Binnington?

What difference will a healthy defense make for Finland at the Olympics?

The Finns' blue line took several hits as Miro Heiskanen, Rasmus Ristolainen and Jani Hakanpaa were ruled out prior to the tournament with injuries. Heiskanen was an especially tough loss for Finland, but if he's available for 2026 international play, that's a massive advantage (in the same way Canada having Makar back on Monday was for them).

Because it's that side of the puck where Finland shines brightest -- they can put on defensive clinics that stifle some of the world's best skaters (we saw that in full force in their first period against the U.S. last week).

Finland can only wonder "what if" now about their showing at 4 Nations. The results could be quite different for them in a year's time with better luck on the injury front.

The 4 Nations Face-Off final is set. A 5-3 win for Canada in Monday's game against Finland has pushed it through to the championship game, where it will face the United States. The U.S. clinched its spot in the final with a 3-1 win over Canada on Saturday.

If the return match between the two North American rivals is anything like the first one, hockey fans are in for another treat. That game -- which featured three fights in the first nine seconds of play -- was heralded by many players as one of the most intense games in which they'd played in their careers.

With the teams set for the final game of the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off, let's explore the players who have been most important to each squad, the X factors for Thursday's game, and just how confident each nation should be in its goaltender.

United States

What we've learned so far

All the conversations about what this version of Team USA could achieve has manifested itself in a few ways. Against Finland, the U.S. looked the part of a team that was comfortable playing in a tight-checking game -- only to provide the sort of offensive surge with three goals on its first four shots to start the third period.

The performance against Canada further amplified how the squad could rely on its collective talent, capitalizing on mistakes while having the flexibility to withstand a late push.

Team MVP through round robin

Jaccob Slavin. Saying "a Tkachuk" would have made sense, considering Brady and Matthew combined to score four of nine goals for the U.S. through its first two games. And while the brothers' exploits have received quite a bit of attention, there's an argument to be made for the role Slavin has played in the success of the team -- particularly as Matthew missed the game against Sweden due to injury, and Brady left after the first period.

Sweden defenseman Victor Hedman is the only skater who is averaging more ice time than Slavin during the tournament. Slavin is averaging more than 23 minutes per game, while anchoring a penalty kill that has been perfect through two games, which also speaks to what has allowed the U.S. to succeed within its defensive structure.

X factor: Special teams

Entering the third day of the tournament, there have been only four power-play goals. The U.S. was responsible for scoring two of those goals on five chances. And that's being done without one of the NHL's premier power-play quarterbacks in Vancouver Canucks star captain Quinn Hughes, who sat out the tournament because of injury.

The ability to capitalize on the power play has been balanced by a penalty kill that went 4-for-4 through two games because of a structure that not only moves with the puck but works to disrupt passing lanes at all times.

Goalie confidence: (9.5/10)

You might have heard: Connor Hellebuyck is another Vezina Trophy away from being the only American to win three. That would put him in a category with Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek and Patrick Roy, among others.

His strong performance in the regular season has carried over to the 4 Nations so far, with Hellebuyck allowing just two goals total in two games. But even with those two goals allowed, Hellebuyck made a number of saves that either made Finland look listless in its opening game, and leaving Canada frustrated in its inability to consistently take advantage of its high-danger chances in a 3-1 loss.

Canada

What we've learned so far

Canada has taken its time finding a rhythm. It was frequently its own worst enemy in the round robin, and those mistakes often proved costly. Canada showed a different confidence in its last game against Finland, which seemed driven by their star players setting a tone.

But Canada can't just rely on the likes of Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon to find twine against the U.S. There are strong role players in Canada's bottom six who can -- and should -- have an impact, whether it's Sam Bennett adding some punch (literally) or the threat of a Mitch Marner-Anthony Cirelli connection.

And when it comes to Canada's blue line, it's not the same without Cale Makar -- that was obvious within minutes of him stepping back into the lineup for Monday's game after sitting out the first game against the U.S. on Saturday because of illness. Jordan Binnington also proved in Monday's clash why coach Jon Cooper keeps going back to him -- Binnington can come through for Canada when it counts.

Team MVP through round robin

Connor McDavid. Now, this is tough, because Sidney Crosby is Canada's points leader (with five) and Cooper essentially (or actually?) called him a god in Monday's postgame news conference. And MacKinnon also has been excellent.

But it's tough to discount what McDavid has done. He scored the opening goal in their last two games (including the lone marker on Connor Hellebuyck in the first matchup against the Americans), and the way he dominated offensively in Monday's game with Finland was pure magic.

There's no one who can flip a switch quite like McDavid. If he's hitting that stride now, that's everything Canada needs to feel confident ahead of the final.

X factor: Scoring depth

Does Canada have enough of it? They're about to find out. The U.S. relied on its role players such as Dylan Larkin to win Saturday.

Canada's scoring to date has come primarily from its top two lines, and that's important -- critical, even. But Canada can't be one-dimensional in its attack. There's enough talent on each line that, when showcased early, can make the U.S. nervous. Canada has to tap into that mentality more than it has in recent games.

If the top lines are nullified by the U.S. -- and vice versa -- then victory could come down to which team gets the most out of its third and fourth units. And the way Cooper chooses to dole out ice time from puck drop also will be telling, and will show what he learned about how the teams matched up in the previous meeting.

Goalie confidence: (7.5/10)

Jordan Binnington is a polarizing figure. Cooper's determination to stick with him as Canada's starter throughout this tournament has been met with criticism, confusion and countless questions. His stats at the event also have been underwhelming (.892 save percentage, 2.60 goals-against average).

But Cooper hasn't wavered, and Binnington was the best he has been so far in Canada's game against Finland.

Now it comes down to whether the Stanley Cup-winning St. Louis Blues backstop can carry that performance over into the final -- at least the one he turned in for 55 minutes (giving up two 6-on-5 goals to the Finns in three minutes was a tough look). Timely stops -- that's what Hellebuyck has provided the U.S., and it's what Binnington has increasingly shown he can give to Canada.

Granted, Binnington didn't get much help offensively from his teammates in that first outing against the Americans, but regardless if that's the case again Thursday, Binnington must save his most complete effort for this final bout.