Morrissey out with illness, Harley in for Canada for 4 Nations final

BOSTON -- For the second consecutive game against the United States, Canada took the ice missing a key player on the blue line on Thursday.

This time, it was defenseman Josh Morrissey, who was ruled out for the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game because of an illness.

In its 3-1 round-robin loss to the U.S. in Montreal on Saturday, Canada played without defenseman Cale Makar, who missed the game due to illness.

Like he did on Saturday, defenseman Thomas Harley entered the lineup as the replacement.

Morrissey did not have a point and was plus-1 in Canada’s previous three games, averaging 21:32 of ice time.

The defenseman was projected to partner with Colton Parayko on Canada's second pair. Instead, Travis Sanheim will move up, and Harley will play with Drew Doughty on the third pair.

Harley had no points and was minus-1 on Saturday, playing 18:17.

Makar returned for Canada’s 5-3 victory against Finland on Monday and was in the lineup again Thursday.

The U.S., meanwhile, was without defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who was injured during his team’s tournament-opening 6-1 win against Finland on Feb. 13 and was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital here on Monday. He was treated for an infection in his right shoulder and released from the hospital Thursday.

Jake Sanderson was in the lineup for the second consecutive game in McAvoy’s absence.

U.S. forward Kyle Connor was scratched on Thursday and replaced by forward Chris Kreider. Connor had one assist and was minus-1 in three games. Kreider scored here on Monday in his only game of the tournament, a 2-1 loss to Sweden.