4 Nations Face-Off | MONTREAL NOTEBOOK

The 4 Nations Face-Off is taking place Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston. The Devils have three players taking part in the tournament: Jack Hughes (USA), Jesper Bratt (Sweden) and Erik Haula (Finland).

Check out the notebook below for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from every game and practice throughout the week in Montreal.

Feb. 15 Coverage

USA 3, CANADA 1

Jack Hughes and the United States have guaranteed themselves a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final on Thursday after taking down Canada in front of a hostile Canadian crowd.

Tensions between the two teams were off the charts, with three fights breaking out in the opening eight seconds of the game.

Jake Guentzel had two goals, one into the empty net to close out the game, and Dylan Larkin provided the go-ahead goal in the second period.

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves.

Connor McDavid scored the lone Canadian goal while goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots.

Hughes played 17:50 with two shots on net. He has predominantly played with Auston Matthews and Jake Guentzel, but lines shifted for the U.S. after Matthew Tkachuk was injured midway through the game.

Earlier in the day, U.S. head coach Mike Sullivan spoke highly of Hughes saying he is a player that ‘creates something out of nothing.’

FINLAND 4, SWEDEN 3 (OT)

Erik Haula and the Finns are in the win column after a victory against their rival nation, Sweden, on Saturday afternoon in Montreal.

"It feels good to beat Sweden every time," Haula said gleefully after the game.

Haula played 8:21 and went 4-for-6 at the faceoff dot.

With their overtime victory and the three-point system for the Four Nations tournament, Finland is tied for second in points with Canada and Sweden (2).

Team USA leads the tournament with three points after their regulation win against Finland on Thursday.

For Sweden, Jesper Bratt played 18:04, including 1:19 on the power play and 33 seconds on the penalty kill. Bratt also had one shot on goal.

1-on-1 with Tom Fitzgerald

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald is in Montreal, serving as one of the assistant general managers for Team USA. He sat down during the U.S.A. morning skate to discuss his experience at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Fitzgerald goes into detail about what he hopes young players like Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt take away from this opportunity and why this tournament is built for a player like Erik Haula.

Feb. 13 Coverage

USA 6, FINLAND 1

POST-GAME:

It was a dominant win by Jack Hughes and Team USA over Erik Haula and Finland on Thursday night. The U.S., despite conceding the first goal of the game, won convincingly, 6-1, against the Finns.

Hughes has his first point of the 4 Nations Face-Off after serving up a secondary assist on the U.S.'s fourth goal. Hughes, the third youngest player on the U.S. roster, connected with his new linemates, Auston Matthews and Jack Guentzel, to put the U.S. up 4-1. He finished a plus-1, with three shots on goal and 16:08 time on ice.

The Tkachuk brothers led the way in the win. Both brothers, Matthew and Brady, had two goals apiece, while Matthew had eight shots on goal to Brady's five.

Erik Haula had two shots on goal for the Finns and played 10:34, including 1:48 on the penalty kill.

The U.S. sits atop the standings with three points with their regulation win. Canada follows in second with two points, Sweden with one and Finland remains pointless.

PRE-GAME:

USA

During Team USA's morning skate, Jack Hughes remained skating alongside Auston Matthews and Jake Guentzel. One change we did see was Hughes switching power play units on Thursday morning, teaming up with Brady Tkachuk, Matt Boldy, Kyle Connor, and Zach Werenski.

Finland

Erik Haula and Team Finland open their 4 Nations tournament this evening against Jack Hughes and Team USA.

For Haula, to be able to suit up for his country at the 4 Nations is a big deal. When he was injured in the Devils game in San Jose at the beginning of January, while he worked to get back to the Devils roster as quickly as possible, Finland was also on his mind.

“This is where I wanted to be," Haula said. "I worked extremely hard to get here. Ultimately, I believe this tournament is going to make me a better player and come out of here and be better for our club team. It’s an honor, and I don’t take it for granted.”

Thursday marks the first time during this 4 Nations tournament that two New Jersey Devils will go head-to-head in competition.

Feb. 12 Coverage

Bratt & Sweden Game Day

POST-GAME

The opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off was a spectacular one.

"The atmosphere was surreal, getting out there just for the warmups the whole arena was packed for warmups," Jesper Bratt said after the game. "It was really special. Especially seeing a lot of Swedish fans coming all the way here. It was really cool. Probably my first moment in an environment like this.”

It didn't end the way Team Sweden and Bratt would have hoped, but it certainly made for excellent entertainment.

Mitch Marner scored for Canada in overtime to send the Canadian crowd into a frenzy.

After Canada had built a 2-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes, Sweden settled into their game and pushed back.

Jonas Brodin opened the scoring for Sweden at 9:33 of the second to make it 2-1, before Mark Stone made it 3-1 Canada.

In the third period, Sweden found it's groove with two goals, the first of the two by Adrien Kempe to get the Swedes within one.

And then came Devils' Jesper Bratt.

Bratt helped quiet the crowd at the Bell Centre when he served up a cross-crease pass to Joel Eriksson Ek, picking up his first point of the tournament, an assist on the 3-3 goal by Sweden.

"Raymond gets center ice, he attacks the center ice and it kind of draws a lot of guys to you. He finds me on the backside and I was just trying to read off if I could get a shot or try to slide it backdoor. I saw that (Jordan) Binnington stood on his strong side, he was taking most of the net away and I knew that if my pass goes through, Joel (Eriksson Ek) would have an empty net."

Bratt totalled 17:01 time on ice, including 1:04 on the power play and took three shifts during the 3-on-3 overtime.

For the Devils forward, this first taste of international play and the return of best-on-best was an incredible moment.

"It's super meaningful," he said. "It's really competitive, the pace is high, the talent is really high, really, really fun game to play."

And how about that 10 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime?

"It's definitely hard to play, but time and space, I'll never say no to that."

Sweden will have a day off from competition tomorrow before a big rivalry match against Finland on Saturday afternoon.

PRE-GAME

The 4 Nations Face-Off opens this evening when Jesper Bratt and Team Sweden take on the Canadians. Although Canada is on home soil, Sweden is designated the home team for this opening game. That puts Bratt and Sweden in the Montreal Canadiens locker room, with all the luxuries a 'home team' has with their facilities in their own arenas.

Teams will switch back and forth between the Canadiens and visitors locker room depending on if they are the 'home' team or the visitor. Bratt sits between Filip Forsberg (Nashville) and Elias Lindholm (Boston) in the Bell Center locker room.

Anticipation is building ahead of the game tonight as Sweden faces a tough test right out of the gate.

No better way to kick things off, Bratt said.

"It's awesome, you get right into it. Playing Canada... Canada is something ever since you were young, you've always dreamed about (playing against). You watch it on TV and you have the opportunity to experience it yourself. Today is the ultimate test. Playing Canada in Canada. Super exciting."

The crowds at the Bell Centre for NHL games is always a wild one and with the added international flair and pride, Bratt is looking forward to experiencing that energy.

"It's going to be pretty crazy," he said. "I mean, everyone always speaks about Montreal, coming here with the Devils, it's always a great crowd. Looking forward to a pretty crazy atmosphere out there."

Bratt and the Swedes take on Canada at 8 p.m. ET.

Feb. 11 Coverage

Bratt and Team Sweden

After it was revealed on Monday that Jesper Bratt will be playing alongside Joel Eriksson Ek and Lucas Raymond to start the tournament for Sweden, on Tuesday, the nation unveiled its power play units with a practice at the Bell Centre.

Bratt lined up on Sweden's second unit with Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh), Elias Petterson (Vancouver), Filip Forsberg (Nashville) and Rickard Rakell (Pittsburgh).

With two days under his belt and the tournament's opening game approaching, anticipation is starting to build.

"So much excitiment, getting to be with all the guys and getting two days now of practice, some more detail of the game are starting to come together," Bratt said. "I’m really excited."

Bratt once again skated on a line at 5-on-5 with Joel Eriksson Ek and Lucas Raymond and said with how quickly this tournament comes together

“It’s such a short tournament, so they’re trying to get you in a position you’re used to from the regular season and from your club team. They obviously wanted to use the strength, good defensive play, and net-front presence of Joel Eriksson Ek. He’s one of the best guys in the league of being a tough center, two-way player that really does a great job in front of the net, too. Me and (Lucas) Raymond can use our speed, our skill through the neutral zone and create a lot of chances to the O-Zone kind of similar to what me and Jack do. It’s an exciting line.”

There is one person who Bratt in particular has been thinking of as he put on his Three Crowns jersey, and that's his Devils teammate Jacob Markstrom, who had been named to the Swedish roster prior to his injury. Bratt has communicated with Markstrom, whom the Swedish team will absolutely miss.

"Marky, especially for me and the Devils was such a big part of our whole season and being without him is really tough," Bratt said. "Me and him were talking about this tournament for such a long time to get to play for Sweden together. We all really feel for him. We know he wants to be here and he's having a good rehab. He'll definitely miss being here and we'll miss him as well."

Sweden opens their tournament play on Wednesday night against Canada.

Jack and Team USA

Jack Hughes and Team USA have shifted over to the Bell Centre in Montreal. As part of a mini-media day, Hughes and his teammates had their pictures taken, both individually and as a team.

As the photo session wrapped up, Hughes posed for pictures with both US Assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald and equipment manager Chris 'Frosty' Scoppetto for a Devils-focused photo.

Among all the stars on the ice, there was one truly notable participant and that was Guy Gaudreau, father of the late Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who died in a tragic accident just before the start of the NHL season.

USA practiced their special teams for the first time and Hughes was among the players who jumped over the boards as part of the first power play unit. Hughes formed a unit with Matthews, Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and Adam Fox on the backend.

The US only opens their tournament on Thursday when Hughes will face off against Team Finland and Erik Haula.

Erik Haula and Team Finland

Erik Haula and Finland were the last of the four nations to practice on Tuesday. For the first time we caught a glimpse of where Haula will line up when they open the tournament on Thursday against the United States.

Haula skated alongside Tuevo Teravainen (Carolina) and Joel Armia (Montreal).

Feb. 10 Practice Info

Jack & Team USA

Jack Hughes was the first of the Devils players to hit the ice for a practice session in Brossard, Quebec.

With an abundance of talent, some players will have to play out of their natural positions, and that's exactly where Jack Hughes was slotted on this first day.

Hughes moved from center, where he plays with the Devils, to the wing to skate alongside Auston Matthews (Toronto) and Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay).

Here is how Team USA lined up at practice:

Connor-Eichel-M.Tkachuk
Guentzel-Matthews-Hughes
B.Tkachuk-Miller-Boldy
Nelson-Trocheck-Larkin/Kreider

Slavin-Fox
Werenski-McAvoy
Hanifin-Faber
Sanderson

Team U.S.A. did not work on their special teams, so we'll wait and see where Hughes lines up, possibly with that being revealed during tomorrow's practice session.

Just after USA wrapped up their practice session, Team Sweden was getting ready to head on to the ice for theirs. That's where Hughes bumped into Devils linemate Jesper Bratt.

"I just saw Bratter practicing, I was like, 'Damn, I'm going to miss him too!'," Jack said, referring to also not having brother Quinn on his team at 4 Nations. "I've been playing with him all year. He looked good in his Swedish stuff. That will be fun (to play against him). Obviously we've got (Erik) Haula on Thursday. At the end of the day, I play for USA now and the same with them (and their countries). I'm looking forward to those games."

The US will practice again tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Bratt & Team Sweden

Jesper Bratt traded in his Devils jersey for that of the Three Crowns as he hit the ice with his Swedish teammates for the first time.

Bratt lined up alongside Joel Erikson Ek (Minnesota) and Lucas Raymond (Detroit) during the session. It's a line that has shades of his current Devils linemates, with Raymond having the speed and offensive upside skill as Jack Hughes, while Eriksson Ek has flashes of Ondrej Palat and the hard work that goes into opening up the ice for the smaller, speedy linemates.

Here is how Team Sweden skated during their first practice session:

Kempe-Pettersson-Forsberg
Bratt-Eriksson Ek-Raymond
Nylander-Zibanejad-Rakell
Nyquist-Lindholm-Arvidsson
Carlsson

Ekholm-Karlsson
Hedman-Brodin
Dahlin-Andersson

Sweden will practice again tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.

Haula & Team Finland

Erik Haula was the last of the Devils to practice on Day 1 of the tournament. Haula, who recently returned from an ankle injury, was one of just 11 skaters on the ice for Finland as their roster has been decimated by injuries. Head coach Antti Pennanen shared that he kept their first practice an optional.

Haula and Finland's first game of the tournament will be against Jack Hughes and the Americans on Thursday night at the Bell Centre - a first opportunity to face off against one of his Devils teammates.

"We were taking our gear off in Montreal and I was like ‘Jack, this is kinda weird, we’re gonna line up against eachother in three days or so!’," Haula shared. "We had a chuckle about it. It’s a cool opportunity. We compete every day in practice, it’s just fun."

For every Finnish player, the game against the Swedes is the big one. Haula described it as similar to the rivalry between the United States and Canada, and this time he'll also be going up against his teammate Jesper Bratt."

"Those guys are like brothers to me," Haula said of Hughes and Bratt. "But this is a whole different thing and it’s going to be fun to play against them."