It was a big night for Team USA at the 4 Nations tournament as they defeated Team Finland on Thursday night. This marked their first best-on-best international win since the 2014 Winter Olympics. And it gave Team USA confidence ahead of their game with Team Canada on Saturday. For Matthew Tkachuk, it was special for a more personal reason. He got to play alongside his brother, Brady Tkachuk.

The Tkachuk brothers were dominant on Thursday night. They each scored twice for the Americans against Team Finland in a 6-1 win at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Matthew, meanwhile, added an assist in the third period. This assist came on Brady's second goal of the game, in fact.

After the game, Matthew was asked what it was like skating with his brother for his country. “That was really, really cool. That's all I have to say. It's a special moment for us to play together. I think that's when it finally set in, when the fans were obviously booing us as we came out for warmups and I'm following him. It was just unbelievable,” the American star said, via Sportsnet.

Matthew Tkachuk discusses what led Team USA to 4 Nations win

The Americans were a bit slow out of the gate on Thursday night at the 4 Nations. Team Finland even scored the first goal of the contest in the first period. However, they found their stride in the third period. And they skated away with all three points as a result.

Tkachuk mentioned a couple of players who he felt contributed to this victory for his country. “It was a big goal by Bolds (Matt Boldy) there toward the end of the second. It gave us a lot of momentum. I think Helly (Connor Hellebuyck) made the play of the game, though, with his breakaway save when it was 1-1. He's just so calm back there and big back there. He's a calming influence for us,” he told Sportsnet.

The Stars and Stripes had their cut out for them on Thursday. The 4 Nations has proven to be a rather competitive tournament in the early going. One big adjustment came when coach Mike Sullivan paired the Tkachuk brothers on the same line. This helped the Americans, especially in the four-goal third period.

“These games, you have no time to really think. You just go out there and play. Obviously, you know, it was a good adjustment. We really enjoyed playing with each other. There's some stuff we definitely gotta fix, maybe read off each other a bit…it was really good,” Matthew Tkachuk told Sportsnet.

The Americans are leading the tournament at this time. However, that can certainly change on Saturday. Fans can tune into the highly anticipated matchup between Team USA and Team Canada on Saturday at 8 PM Eastern.