Bruins Stars Will Play These Roles For Home Countries At 4 Nations

The Boston Bruins have four players representing their countries in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

The Black and Gold faithful will get their first glimpse of Bruins captain Brad Marchand when Canada faces off against Sweden in the opening tilt Wednesday night at Bell Centre in Montreal.

Unlike when Marchand sports the Spoked-B, the 36-year-old forward is slated to skate on Canada’s third line with Tampa Bay Lightning’s Brayden Point and Carolina Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis. It doesn’t matter to Marchand which line he plays on or that he most likely won’t see time on the power play, at least not with Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby also representing Canada.

“This time around, I’m just looking at it as being so grateful,” Marchand said, per NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. “You never know if this is my last time wearing the maple leaf jersey. To be able to have my family and my kids, my siblings and grandparents (watching), it’s going to mean so much more.”

Marchand will play against his own linemate, Elias Lindholm, in the first game of the tournament. Lindholm was selected to represent Sweden along with NHL powerhouses William Nylander, Filip Forsberg and Elias Petterson.

Lindholm is expected to center Sweden’s fourth line, flanked by Edmonton Oilers’ Viktor Arvidsson and Nashville Predators’ Gustav Nyquist. Like Marchand, Lindholm is not expected to see any power-play time but is slated to be on Sweden’s second penalty kill unit.

As for Team USA, Bruins fans will have the opportunity to see Bruins teammates Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman represent America against Finland on Thursday night.

McAvoy will skate on the right side with Columbus Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski on Team USA’s second defense pairing.

Team USA coach Mike Sullivan has not yet named the starting goaltender for the opening game, but it’s a safe bet that Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck will get the nod.

Hellebuyck leads the NHL with a 2.06 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and six shutouts this season for the first-place Jets.

Regardless, how big of a role each of the Bruins will play on their respective teams remains to be seen. But it’s pretty likely all four of them share Marchand’s mentality of simply representing their country.

Here’s the complete schedule for the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off. The times listed are Eastern.

Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. at Bell Centre on TNT
Thursday, Feb. 13: USA vs. Finland, 8 p.m. at Bell Centre on ESPN
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. at Bell Centre on ABC
Saturday, Feb. 15: USA vs. Canada, 8 p.m. at Bell Centre on ABC
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. at TD Garden on TNT
Monday, Feb. 17: Sweden vs. USA, 8 p.m. at TD Garden on TNT
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship Game, 8 p.m. at TD Garden on ESPN