TORONTO -- Fourth line, really?
Well, technically, yes.
Joe Thornton, Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene count a combined $20.25 million toward the salary cap for their NHL teams this season. But on this team, they are the fourth group of forwards.
They are yet another reason Team Canada can win in a million different ways in this World Cup of Hockey, an absolute matchup nightmare that Europe is up next trying to defend Wednesday night (8 ET, ESPN2) with first place on the line in Group A.
"Obviously yeah, minutes-wise, we're the fourth line," Duchene said after his two goals Tuesday night fueled Canada's dominating 4-2 win over Team USA. "We're the fourth line in the rotation. But we've found some good chemistry and I think when you look at how deep our team is, it's more like four first lines. That's the way we want to carry ourselves. We don't want to limit our role and our ability because we are the fourth line. We want to play the game that we know how to play."
Well, that was on full display in the win over the U.S., O'Reilly's unit manhandling the Americans on many a shift.
So if you're Europe head coach Ralph Krueger on Wednesday night and you're trying to figure out ways to stop lines centered by Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf and Jonathan Toews, it stands to reason your fourth line likely ends up matched against Duchene's gang.
Good luck with that.
"A lot of time we get the fourth-line matchups and I think we're a skilled line as well, you saw Duchie have a big game tonight and playing phenomenal," said O'Reilly. "But I think we can provide that extra wave, that relentless wave of puck possession, not just going out there and grinding but still making plays and wearing teams down by having the puck. That's our goal and our mindset going into games."
Canada has 10 goals in two games and it feels like it left some on the table. They've got the puck nearly all the time. The forecheck and cycle game has left the Czech Republic and U.S. gasping for air.
O'Reilly was asked how he thought it might feel like for other teams to defend this four-line attack.
"I think we're relentless, I think we have four lines that consistently find ways to create," said the Buffalo Sabres center. "Having that, it's got to be tough for any team to play against," he added rather matter-of-factly, not arrogantly.
Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock indicated Claude Giroux likely will play his first game of the tournament Wednesday night. That's right, one of the NHL's most prolific scorers the past five years gets to get out of the press box along with his $8.275 million cap hit on his NHL team and play a game.
Mercy.
"Definitely that's going to be a different animal," Europe winger Marian Hossa said of facing Canada. "It's the favored team to win this tournament. It's going to be a great measurement of where we're at. Obviously, they're huge favorites at home, so we'll try to surprise them."
If Europe can pull off the upset, the best chance will come from Canada playing back-to-back games and having difficulty, perhaps, re-creating the kind of emotional engagement that comes so naturally against Team USA.
Within 24 hours they're going from playing a heated rival, which they knocked out of the tournament, to facing a team that's never existed before this tournament.
"Well, I think there's a lot of pride, we're fighting with them for first place in the pool, so there's a lot riding on that," responded Team Canada forward John Tavares, when asked how they avoid a letdown against Europe. "It's such a short tournament, you don't have many chances to make any mistakes or have any letdowns. I think there's great character in the locker room and great leadership, a lot of pride within our group to go out there and keep getting better as a team and individually. You know, you're playing for your country, these chances don't come around very often, so you make every game matter."
Having already booked a ticket to the semifinals, first place in the pool is the carrot left for Canada. But in the bigger picture, it's the idea that's constantly hammered home by Babcock of raising the team's game every step of the way so that it is at its highest level at the end. It's what happened in Vancouver and Sochi.
Thing is, they've come flying out of the gates. How much room is there to improve?
Lots, if you believe Babcock.
"There were times tonight that I didn't think we were even close to being as good as we're capable of being," Babcock said after the win over Team USA. "But it was an opportunity to get better today, and now we're set up to play more games in the tournament, which is real positive. And we've got to take some steps because we weren't as good as we're capable of being tonight."
Sure, Team Canada was sloppy at times in the U.S. victory.
But let's be serious here, the team that has won 12 consecutive games in best-on-best hockey, dating back to the Vancouver 2010 Games, is looking more dangerous than both versions of the squad that has won back-to-back Olympic gold medals.
Really.
Good luck, everyone.