Three days after Matthew Tkachuk picked a fight with Brandon Hagel to open the USA-Canada game, the Canadian forward launched a verbal haymaker ahead of the championship of the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off.

If you were looking to watch a fight Saturday night, hope you tuned into the US-Canada game early. Naturally, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were right in the middle of it. Saturday’s game opened with two fights on successive faceoffs: Matthew Tkachuk dropped the gloves and fought Tampa Bay/Canada forward Brandon Hagel.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel was feeling quite patriotic after helping Canada defeat the United States 3-2 in overtime in Thursday's 4 Nations Face

The post followed Canada’s thrilling 3-2 overtime victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off final against its American rivals.

Tkachuk, meanwhile, is a slam dunk to represent Team USA in the 2026 Winter Games. His thunderous performance in the 4 Nations Face-Off makes him a Stars-and-Stripes lock, alongside his brother Matthew.

Will the sequel live up to the hype? The United States beat Canada by a score of 3-1 on Saturday in Montreal after boos rained down during the Star Spangled Banner and three fights broke out in the first nine seconds of play.

Team Canada forward Brandon Hagel dropped a fiery comment on his fight with USA's Matthew Tkachuk during Canada's 3-1 loss.

Canadian forward Brandon Hagel said the animosity at the start ... After Hagel and Tkachuk went at one another, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett fought upon the ensuing face-off.