USA-Canada battle starts with three fights in first nine seconds

MONTREAL — The bad blood didn’t stop at the anthems.

Saturday’s USA-Canada match in the 4 Nations Face-Off showdown started with three consecutive fights in the game’s first nine seconds as the Bell Centre crowd lost its collective mind.

First, Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel threw down off the opening faceoff.

Then, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett did the same.

That was all before the puck was dropped.

Once the game finally started, just nine seconds of play happened before a third fight broke out following a scrum at Canada’s net — this one between Colton Parayko and JT Miller.