Five weeks ago, the United States beat Finland to win a second consecutive gold medal at the world junior hockey championship.
Thursday night, those countries’ NHL players will meet in their opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Though it’s early in the tournament, every game is critical. Each team plays three games and the top teams advance to the championship game. Canada has two points and Sweden has one after Canada’s 4-3 overtime win in their opener. The USA-Finland winner would get three points if it’s a regulation win.
“These games, to me and my team, is as big as it gets for us,” USA forward Matthew Tkachuk told reporters. “We’re talking four Game 7s.”
Both teams had injuries on defense before the tournament, with the USA losing Quinn Hughes and Finland having to replace Miro Heiskanen, Rasmus Ristolainen and Jani Hakanpaa.
Here’s what you need to know about the USA vs. Finland game and the full schedule at the 4 Nations Face-Off:
The United States and Finland will play at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
The USA-Finland game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Sling, Fubo and ESPN+ carry ESPN and ABC games.
The USA will go with two-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck in net while Finland will use Juuse Saros.
Under the 4 Nations Face-Off format, teams will get three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime/shootout win, one point for an overtime/shootout loss and zero points for a loss in regulation. So if the USA or Finland wins in regulation Thursday, it would move ahead of Canada (two points) and Sweden (one point) in the standings.
Finland and the United States have met in the last four Olympics that involved NHL players. The USA routed Finland 6-0 in the round robin in 2002 on the way to a silver medal. Finland beat the USA 4-3 in the quarterfinals in 2006 on the way to silver. The USA downed Finland 6-1 in the 2010 semifinals on the way to a silver medal. In the 2014 Olympics, Finland beat the USA 5-0 in the bronze medal game. Finland also beat the USA 2-1 in the semifinals of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
(Times p.m. ET)
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