Grades, top players from a dominant U.S. win over Finland - ESPN

The opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off was a close one — a 4-3 overtime win for Canada over Sweden. The second contest was also close… for 37 minutes.

Finland and the United States were tied 1-1 until 17:04 of the second, but then the U.S. hit the afterburners — and cranked up «Free Bird» on the Bell Centre sound system on repeat — en route to a 6-1 rout.

The Finns will next take on their rival Sweden on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+), and the U.S. will face Canada in the nightcap (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+/Disney+).

Before those games, let's digest the U.S. victory over Finland. Here are grades for both teams, our biggest takeaways, key players to watch for the next game as well as lingering questions.

Anything less than a regulation win against shorthanded Finland would been embarrassing for Team USA, especially after Canada left a point on the table against Sweden last night in an overtime win. For a while, that looked like a possibility: Finland was doing as Finland does against elite opponents — grinding down the tempo and taking an early lead. One of the best signs for the Americans in this win: zero panic and plenty of poise for a team that doesn't have anything close to the «best on best» or NHL championship experience of a team like Canada.

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Team USA found its swagger in the last 23 minutes, from Matt Boldy's expert deflection on Minnesota Wild teammate Brock Faber's point shot to make it 3-1, through their three goals in three minutes to open the third period and put away the game.

Some might say the final score doesn't tell the whole story because the U.S. scored four goals in the final period, but I think it does. The Americans were plus-15 in scoring chances and had an expected goals