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USA head coach Mike Sullivan believes Auston Matthews will play in 4 Nations Face-Off final

Originally posted on TheLeafsnation | By Arun Srinivasan | Last updated Feb 18, 2025 1:15 PM ET

Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan anticipates that Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews will play in Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off final against Canada.

Matthews missed Monday’s game against Team Sweden with an upper-body injury, but it was largely a precautionary measure with Team USA already clinching a berth to the final. He has missed 15 games for the Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury but returned to Toronto’s lineup on January 4.

The 27-year-old is also serving as Team USA’s captain throughout the tournament.

“He’s a quiet leader,” Sullivan said of Matthews via Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “The best way he leads is through his example.”

Matthews has recored one assist in two games for Team USA, while being primarily paired with Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes. There’s been an expectation for Matthews to provide more offence, although he was stellar defensively in Team USA’s 3-1 win over Team Canada on Saturday.

Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk will also return for the final. Tkachuk suffered an injury during Saturday’s game against Team Canada, while Brady Tkachuk suffered an injury during the first period of Monday’s loss to Team Sweden.

So much in-flux this morning. Team USA was told one hour ago that they couldn’t add anyone.

Mike Sullivan now says Quinn Hughes is en route to join USA as an injury replacement.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 18, 2025

It will be an eventful final as Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes will be joining Team USA , in place of the injured Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy was sent to Massachusetts General Hospital for an evaluation of an upper-body injury on Monday, the Boston Bruins confirmed Tuesday morning. Hughes can only play if one of USA’s defencemen are definitively ruled out but it doesn’t appear that McAvoy will be suiting up for Thursday’s final.

‘That first game, it put everybody on notice that this wasn’t just a walk-in-the-park tournament, that this is something the players wanted and are taking very seriously,” Matthews said to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.

Thursday’s final is the most-anticipated men’s international hockey game of the past decade, a billing that the previous USA-Canada game was granted, where the hype certainly was exceeded. Matthews is one of the central storylines entering the contest, and it’ll be compelling to see if he lifts the trophy for his country.

This article first appeared on TheLeafsnation and was syndicated with permission.

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