It’s the unofficial rivalry day at the World Cup of Hockey, with geographical neighbours Sweden and Finland facing off in the afternoon and Canada and the United States meeting in a highly anticipated matchup in the evening.
If the US and Finland lose, it could be curtains for their World Cup tournaments. Meanwhile, Canada and Sweden look to qualify for the playoff round.
Here is something for these four teams to be optimistic about heading into Tuesday’s games.
TEAM FINLAND
• Pekka Rinne wasn’t awful in Finland’s first game, saving 39 of 43 shots. But if they need to turn to their backup, they’ve got another goalie to be fully confident in.
Tuukka Rask won the Vezina Trophy in 2014, one more time than Rinne has won it, and he’s consistently one of the NHL’s top goalies. And although they lost 4-1 to Team North America, Finland’s youngest player, Patrik Laine, looked great, taking two shots on goal and showing he’s not shy to throw his weight around. Plus, Finland’s fans have shown up.
TEAM SWEDEN
• The Swedes went into their first game against the high-powered Russian offence and were forced to start backup Jacob Markstrom after Henrik Lundqvist was sidelined with an illness…and they still won.
Markstrom was fantastic making 27 saves on 28 shots, which has to inspire all sorts of confidence. They can run with the hot hand, or switch back to Lundqvist, who is one of the top two or three goalies in the world.
Everyone was involved for the Swedes, too. The team registered 29 shots against Russia and only four players on the roster didn’t get at least one.
TEAM USA
• This is the game they were built to win. The Americans come into their game against Canada with an 0-1 record, so it’s not the position they planned on being in. The “must-win” game against Canada was supposed to come later. But here we are.
The Americans left off more naturally skilled players such as Phil Kessel, Tyler Johnson and Kyle Okposo in favour of grit to physically try and wear down the Canadians.
The first pre-tournament game between these two teams was played just the way the Americans wanted, and they came out on top with a 4-2 win. Tuesday’s matchup is why this collection of Americans are here.
TEAM CANADA
• What isn’t there to be optimistic about?
A worrying start for Canada at the World Cup would have been a loss to the Czech Republic, or even a narrow win that came down to the wire. But the opener on Saturday was a dream start for Canada as they steamrolled the Czechs 6-0.
The goaltending was predictably solid. The defence moved the puck with efficiency and was tough to beat for even an experienced and skillful bunch of Czechs.
If there was a concern about Canada coming into the tournament, it was about the offence and where the goals would come from, considering they won low-scoring games in the Sochi Olympics. Well, the first round-robin game at the World Cup put those worries to rest — Canada were like the Harlem Globetrotters in the attacking end of the ice, putting 50 shots on goal. They will be a formidable foe for anyone.
