"I didn't want to get my hopes up," O'Reilly said. "But I kind of started preparing from there."

Immediately following Team Canada's two pretournament games against Team USA on Sept. 9 and 10, forward Ryan O'Reilly received a phone call from a member of the Team Canada management team telling him to be ready in case of an injury.

Team Canada forward Tyler Seguin had crashed heavily into the boards in the first game and took a hit from Team USA defenseman Dustin Byfuglien in the second game. When Seguin was removed from Team Canada's roster Sept. 13 with what eventually was diagnosed as a hairline fracture of his heel, he was replaced by O'Reilly. So perhaps that's the only reason the call was made.

But what if Team Canada saw how Team USA was going to play against them and decided it needed someone with O'Reilly's skill set in the lineup?

"I didn't think that much about that, to tell you the truth," Team Canada coach Mike Babcock said.

O'Reilly is a physical player known as a strong penalty killer who almost never takes penalties. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2014, and in the past three NHL seasons, his 22 penalty minutes are tied for third-fewest among players to skate in at least 150 games.

If the game between Team Canada and Team USA at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVA Sports) becomes a penalty-filled affair, he could become a valuable player.

"I think it helps," O'Reilly said. "I look at myself as a disciplined player. I stay out of the box as much as possible, so that's one of the reasons I'm here. But I can play center, wing. I broke into the League as a penalty killer and kind of always had that as a backbone, and that's one of the reasons why I was brought onto this team."

Team USA's players have not been shy in repeating that they need to be hard to play against when they face Team Canada, and that would include finishing checks and playing a more abrasive game.

O'Reilly's combination of grit and discipline is perfect for that type of game.

"I think that's the NHL style now and that's the way [Team USA coach John Tortorella] has always coached, playing a gritty game," O'Reilly said. "I feel we have a bit of that too. I think some of the guys they have are a little grittier than playmakers, or finesse guys. That's just a style.

"I think we are prepared for it. We know it's going to come, and it's about being disciplined. Being disciplined with our systems, being disciplined staying out of the box, those sort of things. We can't deviate from our game plan."