Already shorthanded, the U.S. may have to go the rest of the way without another one of their top forwards.
Winger Brady Tkachuk exited Monday’s 4 Nations Face-Off round-robin finale against Sweden after suffering an apparent injury in the first period. He was ruled out early in the second period.
The incident occurred as Tkachuk and the U.S. were on the attack midway through the first period. The winger tripped and went hard into the net, crashing into Sweden goaltender Samuel Ersson.
After going back to his team’s bench in pain, he spoke to one of the team’s trainers and went to the dressing room. He returned later in the first period and went out for one mor14-second shift, but then was done.
The U.S. was already down a forward going into the game against Sweden as centre and captain Auston Matthews took the night off to rest as he battles an illness and Matthew Tkachuk was ruled out with a lower-body injury.
Luckily for the Americans, the matchup against Sweden was of little consequence as their ticket to the finals was booked following a 3-1 win over Canada on Saturday. The two sides are set to square off again on Thursday in Boston.
