A week from now, Senators stars Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle will all be back together in Ottawa, working hard to lead their NHL team back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a second year in a row.
And if they fail, it won’t be because they lack chemistry in the dressing room.
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But all of that chemistry and friendship will be paused for a few hours on Sunday afternoon as Team USA faces Germany in the final preliminary men’s hockey game of the Olympics (3:10 pm ET, CBC).
Tkachuk is one of those outgoing characters who seems to be best friends with about half a dozen people, but his friendship with Stutzle seems to be as strong as anyone’s.
Not today.
“We’re teammates or buddies when we’re in Ottawa, but once that time comes, and I know he’s gonna have the same feeling, there’s no friends out there,” Tkachuk told the Locked on Senators Podcast last summer. “No teammates. It’s game on. It’s country versus country.”
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Stutzle vs Tkachuk is an interesting storyline, but this was always going to be a huge mismatch, and there are a couple of angles that stand to make the Americans even bigger favourites.
As expected, Team Germany leaned heavily on their NHL stars like Stutzle, Leon Draisaitl, Mo Seider, and JJ Peterka, who all played north of 26 minutes less than 24 hours ago in a 4-3 loss to Latvia. The Americans played on Saturday as well, but with their depth, they were able to comfortably roll their lines in a 6-3 win over Denmark.
While Tkachuk and Sanderson would probably rather not rub Stutzle’s face in an ugly result, it’s in their interest to try.
A regulation victory on Sunday would leave them tied for first in the tournament with Canada. But after the Canadians pounded France 10-2 on Sunday to finish preliminaries with 9 points and a plus-17 goal differential, the Americans would need to win by 10 against Germany to catch Canada, which is highly unlikely.
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The top-seeded team will play the lowest-seeded team that makes it to the quarterfinals.
Stutzle and Tkachuk have both been excellent in the tournament so far. Stutzle has 3 goals in the first two games, while Tkachuk has 2 and shares the USA lead with a +4.
“They have a good team, we know that,” Stutzle told NHL.com on Saturday. “They’re going to play fast. We’ve got to find a way to compete against them and play our game, and be good defensively.”
After Team USA’s 6-3 victory over Denmark, defenseman Quinn Hughes (another of Tkachuk’s best friends) had a description of the Saturday victory that sounded like a perfect formula for success on Sunday when the Americans face Germany’s top-heavy lineup.
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“It’s hard to play with us, to keep our pace the whole game,” Hughes said. “Denmark kept our pace in the first, but let’s see if they can keep our pace in the second and third. If we do what we need to do, we should be in a good spot.”
With most Senators fans focused on Canada’s fate at this tournament, the result of Sunday’s Germany-USA game doesn’t matter a whole lot to them, so when watching Sens’ three most important players on Sunday, they’re probably left feeling a little like the players’ moms.
They’re just hoping no one gets hurt.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published at The Hockey News-Ottawa. Read more Senators features and articles from THN Ottawa here:
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