This has certainly been more interesting than any All-Star Game I can remember.

The United States have punched their ticket to the Championship Game of the 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston on Thursday.

The Americans put on an impressive defensive display and shut down Canada’s potent offence en route to a 3-1 win at the Bell Centre on Saturday. They now lead the tournament with two regulation victories and are guaranteed to be the top team in the standings when preliminary play wraps up on Monday.

Boos rained down from the crowd in Montreal during the Star Spangled Banner and the game exploded with three fights in the first nine seconds of play. After things settled down, Connor McDavid opened the scoring for Canada five minutes into the first frame with a beautiful backhand goal.

That was the highlight of the game for Canada and it was a slow and frustrating demise from there.

Jake Guentzel tied the game later in the first period and Dylan Larkin put the United States up 2-1 in the second frame. Sidney Crosby made a turnover at the American blueline, Dylan Larkin caught the Canadian defenders on a change and burst up ice on a two-on-one, and he sniped the go-ahead goal blocker side on Jordan Binnington.

After six fighting majors and three other penalties were called in the first period, there wasn’t a single penalty called during the second and third frames. The Americans took the lead in the second and shut Canada down from there. With Binnington on the bench, Guentzel buried an empty-net goal to seal the victory for the United States.

While the Americans are already on their way to the Championship Game, Canada can force a rematch against the United States with a regulation win against Finland on Monday.

Canada, Finland, and Sweden are all tied with two points in the standings, though the two points for Canada and Finland are from overtime wins while Sweden’s two points are from overtime losses. The only way Sweden can advance to the Championship Game is with a regulation win over the United States and the game between Canada and Finland going into overtime.