After a fight-filled start to the round robin 4 Nations Face-Off matchup between Team USA and Team Canada on Saturday, American winger Brady Tkachuk explained that his brother Matthew "wanted a piece" of Team Canada's Brandon Hagel.

Seth Jones impressed his Florida Panthers teammates in his debut Monday night, but it's anyones guess when Matthew Tkachuk will be sharing the ice with his newest teammate. Jones played just under 23 minutes and nearly scored a goal in the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers' 2-1 win over their in-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning.

Team Canada's Brandon Hagel said fighting Team USA's Matthew Tkachuk was "for the flag," not "for the cameras," on Saturday in their 4 Nations Face-Off game.

Team USA's Matthew Tkachuk and Canada's Brandon Hagel, who traded punches on Saturday night, are now trading barbs ahead of Thursday's 4 Nations Face-Off championship in Boston.

From the first punch to when the linesmen jumped in, the fight between Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel lasted 25 seconds. The war of words that followed entered its fifth day on Wednesday. In the round-robin game between Team USA and Canada in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday in Montreal,

Matthew Tkachuk heard the gist of Brandon Hagel's comments from Tuesday, when the Canada forward said he and his teammates play for the flag and not the cameras, that they don't need group chats to initiate their passion for playing for the country.

The fight between Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel in the opening seconds of the Team USA-Canada game on Saturday certainly didn’t settle any lingering tensions. Instead, Tkachuk and Hagel have only fueled the 4 Nations Face-Off rivalry ahead of the championship game in Boston on Thursday — and group chats are at the crux of the recent jabs.

It was a clear dig at the United States, specifically the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady, and everything that led up to that explosive first nine seconds in the U.S.-Canada game on Saturday. Matthew,

Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team United States forward Matthew Tkachuk (19) and Team Canada forward brandon Hagel (38) fight in the first period during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at the Bell Centre.

Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel don’t seem to be done sparring with one another, throwing shots ahead of Thursday’s 4 Nations final.  Read More