BOSTON — Aside from defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who was ruled out for the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game with an infected right shoulder, Team USA is expected to have every other player who was banged up available on Thursday.
“There’s no way I was missing this game,” USA captain Auston Matthews said after participating in practice on Wednesday, following a late scratch against Sweden due to upper-body soreness.
Matthew Tkachuk was also on the TD Garden ice after missing the final 12:36 of the first game against Canada with what was termed a lower-body injury.
He then sat out Team USA’s 2-1 loss to Sweden on Monday night, as well.
Brother Brady Tkachuk was the only questionable player who did not participate in practice, but head coach Mike Sullivan said it was because the Senators captain wasn’t feeling well.
“He’s saving everything he has for tomorrow night,” Matthew Tkachuk said.
Sullivan also asserted that he expects Brady Tkachuk to play.
The flu continues to run rampant around the tournament, so more exceptions have been made.
According to multiple reports, Sabres center Tage Thompson and Devils defenseman Brett Pesce have been invited by Team USA to come to Boston and serve as reserves just in case.
The same rules will apply for the two extra Americans as they did for Thomas Harley when he came in for Canada: They cannot even participate in USA’s morning skate Thursday unless the team falls below the roster threshold.
Regarding Quinn Hughes, who Sullivan mistakenly announced was headed to Boston before he was spotted at Canucks practice in Vancouver, word out of Vancouver is that Hughes isn’t medically cleared.
Sullivan said his understanding was that Hughes was not coming to Boston as of that moment, but that Team USA general manager Bill Guerin was working through it.
“It’d be fun,” Hughes’ brother and would-be USA teammate, Jack Hughes, said. “Obviously, he was on the team and a big part of the team, and even if he comes and can’t play, that’ll give everyone a big boost that he supports us and he is willing to come all this way to come just sit and be an extra if there’s no injury or nothing.”
The loss of McAvoy, who played a major role in shutting down Canada’s top offensive players in their round-robin win, is a big blow to Team USA’s blue line, but was necessary.
The Bruins announced that McAvoy sustained an injury to his right shoulder AC joint in the game against Finland last week.
He underwent treatment, which Boston pointed out was administered by Team USA’s medical staff — largely made up of Minnesota Wild employees.
Upon further evaluation in Boston, it was determined that McAvoy’s shoulder was infected, in addition to having a “significant injury to his AC joint.”
“I had no intention of talking to Chuck or [David Pastrnak] or any of my teammates until this tournament was over,” McAvoy’s Bruins teammate and Canadian adversary, Brad Marchand, said. “But obviously in a situation like that — Chucky’s one of my best friends and I care a lot about him.”
