4 Nations notes: Injured Americans return

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As Canada and the United States gear up for their highly anticipated rematch, here are some updates for the 4 Nations Face-Off final on Thursday night in Boston.

Two of the U.S.'s three injured forwards were back at practice today.

Auston Matthews (upper body) and Matthew Tkachuk (lower body) both missed the Americans' meaningless round-robin finale against Sweden on Monday, while Brady Tkachuk (lower body) called it a night after crashing into the net in the first period. Matthew Tkachuk also sat out the final 12 minutes of the U.S.'s 3-1 win over Canada on Saturday night after he and Brady instigated two of the three fights in the opening nine seconds of the game.

It sounds like they'll all play on Thursday. Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk both practiced today, with the latter indicating he's good to go and the former declaring there's "no way" he'd miss the final. Brady Tkachuk did not practice today, but head coach Mike Sullivan said he expects him to play while Matthew Tkachuk said his younger brother is "saving everything he has for tomorrow night and I'm very confident he'll be at his absolute best."

Charlie McAvoy remains hospitalized.

Yesterday, Sullivan confirmed that McAvoy (who happens to be his son-in-law) won't play in the final due to the injury that kept the defenceman out of Monday's game against Sweden.

The head team doctor for the Boston Bruins, McAvoy's NHL team, said today that McAvoy hurt his right shoulder last Thursday against Finland. "Increasing pain" led McAvoy to seek treatment from the Bruins' medical staff after the tournament shifted from