Who knew the 4 Nations Face-Off was going to be the post-Super Bowl, pre-March Madness action we never knew we needed?
Canada secured a rematch with the USA by defeating Finland 5-3 on Monday afternoon, creating one of the most entertaining on-air sweats I’ve seen on VSiN.
Scott Seidenberg, filling in for Adam Schein on Make It Rain, had Canada +1.5 goals. A 4-0 lead turned into a potential 4-3 bad beat in the final minutes before Canada scored an empty-netter with under a minute left.
I checked in with Jonathan Davis, VSiN’s hockey analyst, for his early thoughts on Thursday’s 4 Nations final:
I don’t know how Canada and the USA can top what took place on Saturday in Montreal. Don’t expect three fights in the first nine seconds of Thursday’s rematch. Messages have been sent and received on both sides.
The big question facing the USA heading into Thursday’s Championship game will be health. Both Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk were held out of Monday’s game [a 2-1 loss to Sweden] for precautionary reasons. Brady Tkachuk didn’t finish the game after crashing into the goalpost. As Matthew Tkachuk said on Saturday, “I’ve been waiting nine years for this.” Expect all three players to be in the lineup for Team USA.
For Canada, outside of Shea Theodore (injured in the opening game of the tournament), they are fully healthy as Cale Makar is back after missing the game against USA. Canada juggled its lines for their game against Finland and I would expect them to stick with the same lineup for Thursday.
Buckle up, sit back and enjoy. It’s going to be must watch television.
DraftKings Sportsbook has -110 on both sides of the moneyline with a Total of 5.5.
JD will have his official preview and Best Bets on Thursday morning at the latest.
Today in College Basketball
Greg Peterson has posted his Best Bets for today’s menu.
Adam Burke will post his top plays later this morning. So will Tyler Shoemaker.
As well as Josh Appelbaum‘s Sharp Report.
>Makinen’s power ratings with estimated scores
>DraftKIngs/Circa Betting Splits.
Listen now: Greg’s daily podcast handicapping every game on the menu every day.
Quick Hits
Tennis: Zach Cohen is posting his Best Bets article daily. My advice: Check our tennis page and the VSiN picks page the night before because you never know from which part of the world those top plays are coming. Even on vacation, Gill Alexander is sending me his plays.
This is The VSiN Daily newsletter for Tuesday, February 18. Sign up for this free email and get picks and insights delivered to your in-box every morning.
