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.

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.

The reasons differ from player to player and from one situation to the next. The three American forwards, for example, infamously had a group chat before the game in which they all pledged to get the crowd going by fighting in the game. Canada’s Brandon Hagel, on the other hand, had a different reason.

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