Matthews skates with Guentzel, Hughes at Team USA's first practice
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Team USA captain Auston Matthews skated alongside Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes on the second line at Team USA’s first practice Monday ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Jack Eichel centred Kyle Connor and Matthew Tkachuk on the top line, while J.T. Miller was grouped with Brady Tkachuk and Matt Boldy on the third line.
Brock Nelson, Vinnie Trochek, and Dylan Larkin skated on the fourth line, as Chris Kreider rotated with the Red Wings captain on the right wing.
Mike Sullivan's top defensive pairing at practice was Jaccob Slavin and Adam Fox, with Zach Weresnki and Charlie McAvoy rounding out the top four.
Noah Hanifin and Brock Faber skated together to round out the blue line pairings, while Jake Sanderson was the extra participant in practice.
Sanderson was named to the team Sunday as a fill-in for Quinn Hughes, who is unavailable for the tournament while dealing with an undisclosed injury.
Matthews, 27, was named as Team USA’s captain for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Jan. 31, just six months after taking over the same role on the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer.
“Just be myself every day and be who I am,” Matthews told NHL.com on his approach to captaining the national team. “I think that’s why I’ve gotten to where I am and why I’ve been chosen to be the captain.”
The 4 Nations Face-Off will serve as the the San Ramon, Calif. native’s first opportunity to represent his country since winning gold with the Americans at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Matthews has scored 20 goals and 45 points in 40 games for Toronto this season while missing time due to an upper-body injury that sidelined him for three weeks in November and a six-game stretch in December.
Team USA’s general manager Bill Guerin met with Matthews and Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving on Jan. 29, with TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reporting after the meeting that Matthews would be “full go” for the tournament.
The Americans open their ledger at the 4 Nations Face-Off with a matchup against Finland from Montreal's Bell Centre on Thursday.