3 things we learned from opening slate of 4 Nations Face-Off games

The 4 Nations Face-Off kicked off on Wednesday that marked the resumption of best-on-best hockey.

In the opening slate, Canada defeated Sweden 4-3 in OT, while USA routed Finland 6-1. Ahead of Saturday's games, here are three things we learned so far.

3 things we learned from opening slate of 4 Nations games

#1. Canada's power play is legit

Entering the tournament, many highlighted Canada's power play as arguably the greatest power play in best-on-best hockey history. The power play featured Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Sam Reinhart with the first four all being four of the best 7-10 players in the NHL.

However, many were curious to see how they would work together. Ultimately, Sweden took a penalty early in the game, and Canada scored just seconds into the power play.

That was the only penalty Sweden took in the power play and is a perfect 1-for-1.

#2. Finland is outmatched

Entering the 4 Nations Face-Off, the thought was Finland was the worst of the four teams, and after the first game that appears to be the case.

Finland has been decimated by injuries, mostly to its blue line, and given it's an NHL tournament, every Finnish defenseman except for one who has played in the NHL is on the roster.

The lack of talent on the blue line is an issue, as Finland was blown out 6-1 in its first game of the tournament to the USA.

#3. USA appears to be the favorite

The talk around this tournament was this was USA's best chance to finally beat Canada and win a best-on-best tournament. However, until it is done, it is hard to say the USA is the favorite.

But, the USA is catching up to Canada in terms of talent, and in their first game they blew out Finland, while Canada needed OT to beat Sweden. After the first games of the 4 Nations Face-Off, it does seem like USA is the favorite to win this tournament.