MILAN — Tage Thompson has come a long way since being snubbed for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The Buffalo Sabres star, who scored the “golden goal” in the World Championship to lift the United States to its first gold medal in the tournament in 92 years, will open the Olympics on Thursday night against Latvia on the U.S.’s No. 1 power play with Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Jack Eichel and Quinn Hughes and playing on what has the makings of a terrific line with Kyle Connor and Dylan Larkin.

“It’s awesome,” Thompson said after the United States’ final practice before the team’s Olympic debut. “I mean, it’s the best players in the league, best players in the world. Just trying to fit in, do what they tell me, and hopefully help them out. Everyone’s a threat, it’s fun, a ton of skill, and like I said, I’m just trying to do my part and hopefully help contribute some goals.”

One thing that’s coincidental is that Thompson found out he made the Olympic team while the Sabres were in Dallas. The common thinking is that Thompson’s inclusion on the roster is one of the biggest reasons Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson was snubbed. The United States brass felt Thompson was more versatile, from his ability to play center or wing to a third-line role. But he also gives the U.S. a big right shot on the top power-play unit, something coach Mike Sullivan said was important to him when helping choose the roster.

“I got a phone call from Billy Guerin, and I was in Dallas at the time, and it was a pretty surreal phone call,” Thompson said. “Obviously, you’re a little anxious, just waiting to see what’s happening, whether you made it or not, and obviously it was a good phone call, and I shared it with my family right away, and obviously they’re excited and very happy for me as well.

“To get the job done and have that feeling (at the World Championship) feels great, so just trying to carry over that experience and carry it over for a gold medal in the Olympics, hopefully.”

Sullivan expects Thompson to play a big role throughout these Olympics.

“He’s a great goal scorer,” Sullivan said. “He has the ability to make plays. We don’t have a lot of right-handed shots at our forward position. And as a coaching staff, we tend to like the sticks in the right spots. We think that gives us an advantage for the type of power play that we’re trying to run. And Tage is one of those guys that’s a right shot, but he also has the skill set to play the position that we’re asking him to play.”

The other United States forward lines appear to be Brady Tkachuk-Eichel-Matthew Tkachuk; Jake Guentzel-Matthews-Matt Boldy; Jack Hughes-Brock Nelson-J.T. Miller, with the 13th forward being Vincent Trocheck and Clayton Keller a scratch. On the blue line, it appears as if it’s Quinn Hughes-Charlie McAvoy; Jaccob Slavin-Brock Faber; Jake Sanderson-Zach Werenski, with the seventh defenseman being Noah Hanifin and Jackson LaCombe scratched.

In the NHL, teams play with 18 skaters, so Sullivan was asked how he’ll work in two extra players.

“Well, we have a game plan on how we’re going to do it,” he said. “I think in some ways, depending on what your lines look like, you can deploy those guys different ways. If they have a particular skill set that might be attractive to help our team, whether it be, for example, if you have a guy that can take faceoffs, if you have a guy that can kill penalties or things of that nature, get defensive zone starts. Sometimes if there’s a guy that might have a specialty on a power play, some teams might utilize that position for that type of a player. So I think there’s an opportunity there when you have an expanded roster like that to utilize it in different ways. We’ve talked about it at length as a coaching staff on how we’re going to try to utilize our guys.”

Quinn Hughes addition

The United States may have left Robertson, Cole Caufield and other goal scorers back home, but they feel they have plenty of offense with the additions of Thompson and especially Quinn Hughes, an offensive dynamo and human breakout who had to miss the 4 Nations due to an injury.

“Well, I think he’s a game-changer,” Sullivan said. “He’s a game-changer on the blue line. To have him and his skill set and what he brings to the team, his ability to help us get out of our end. He defends so well with his mobility and stick. And you watch him both five-on-five and on the power play and how dynamic he is, whether it be with our transition game or jumping off the offensive blue line. He’s a unique player. And so to have him as part of the group this year, I think is a huge boost for us.”

Matthew Tkachuk ready to go

After getting hurt in the 4 Nations Face-Off, returning for the playoffs and then undergoing surgery in August after winning a second straight Stanley Cup, Matthew Tkachuk got 10 NHL games for the Panthers under his belt and feels 100 percent heading into the Olympics.

“I feel really good,” he said. “Some games I played a lot of minutes. Some games didn’t, for whatever reason. I’m at my best; I expect to be at my best. And there’s no better time than now.”

Tkachuk loves the tightness of the team, which has decided to stay in the Olympic Village for the duration of the Olympics.

“Last year helped a lot, pretty much all the same guys. Or, the majority of the same guys,” Tkachuk said. “The team camaraderie is at an all-time high. We’re having so much fun. We’re hanging out 24/7 because most of us don’t have anybody here, whereas 4 Nations, it seemed like everybody had so much family.”

Blown away by the U.S. women

Brady Tkachuk said he got goosebumps Tuesday night when he and many of his U.S. teammates came over the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and watched the American women blank Canada in their final game of group play to advance to the quarterfinals Friday night against Italy.

“It was really awesome to see how great they played,” Tkachuk said. “But also the USA chants, the atmosphere, the support. That definitely gave me a lot of chills.”

Defender Caroline Harvey, a tremendous skater, posted her second three-point game in 24 hours and simply made plays happen all game long.

“Caroline Harvey’s like Bobby Orr,” said Brady’s brother, Matthew. “She was the best player on the ice, and felt like, by a lot, like she was incredible.”

Guerin said he has attended each of the USA women’s games. They’re 4-0 in the tournament, outscoring Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Canada 20-1. He’s especially impressed by the University of Minnesota winger who had three assists and drew four penalties against Canada.

“I called my wife last night before she took off (for Italy), I said, ‘I have a new favorite player, and it’s Abbey Murphy,’” Guerin said.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.