The elite blueliner led all skaters in ice time Saturday night.

Team USA has clinched a berth in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game thanks to a 3-1 win over Team Canada Saturday night.

After a physical start where three fights happened in the opening nine seconds, the Americans actually found themselves trailing after Connor McDavid torched the US for a sick solo goal.

But the Americans stormed back from the early deficit, scoring three unanswered goals (Jake Guentzel x2, Dylan Larkin). However, a big reason for their success too can be attributed to Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin.

Slavin logged the most minutes in the match, playing nearly half of the game (25:36).

Not only was the elite blueliner on the ice for all three Team USA goals, but he has yet to be on the ice for a goal against all tournament.

And, he had a physical night himself, reversing a hit from Sam Bennett, throwing the body against Sidney Crosby and Seth Jarvis.

In two games, Slavin is a +5 while allowing 0 goals and all while facing off routinely against the best players in the world. Whether it's McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or anybody, he matches up against them and thrives more often than not.

Slavin is hands down one of, if not the best, defensive players in hockey, and he's been doing it for years in Carolina.

There's countless plays that are killed early or don't even happen because of the way he plays and his ability to read and adapt to situations on the fly. 

Truly, he's one of the all-time greats already and it's clear that Team USA has identified him as a lynchpin to their overall team success and whether it's been at 5v5 or on the penalty kill he's making timely blocks and killing plays.

The Americans have another game against Team Sweden Monday night in Boston before the Championship Game on Thursday, but their opponent is still up in the air.

Canada, Finland and Sweden all have two points in the standings and a regulation win by any of them will put them into the final.

An exciting time for international hockey, for sure.

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