The World Championships have four games on tap today in Russia.
Group A Preliminary Games
9:15 AM ET: Latvia vs Russia
Latvia is 0-2 in the tournament, but thanks to forcing overtime in both losses, they have two huge points from games against Sweden and the Czech Republic which is great for them and gives them a great chance to avoid the relegation round. Russia struggled to beat Kazakhstan yesterday and facing another former Soviet block country the day after will tell us a lot about this Russian team. If they struggle for the third game in a row, it may be a disappointing result for the host country. The game will be shown on TSN2 in Canada
1:15 PM ET: Sweden vs Czech Republic
The two teams currently atop Group A will play their round robin matchup to see who will have the upper hand. Sweden bounced back after a rough opener against Latvia to defeat Denmark yesterday. The Czech Republic also struggled to beat Latvia, needing a last minute goal to force overtime after blowing a 2-0 first period lead. They also beat Russia 3-0. Both teams are fielding weaker-than-normal lineups and may not be among the favourites to win a medal. The game will be shown on TSN 4/5 in Canada
Group B Preliminary Games
9:15 AM ET: Canada vs Belarus
A day after defeating Hungary 7-1, Canada will face Belarus who has lost their first two games at the tournament to Finland and the United States. Good news, Belarus. After facing the presumptive top two picks of this year’s NHL Draft, you now get to face last year’s number one pick in Connor McDavid. Belarus is fighting to avoid relegation in this tournament and their most important games will come against Hungary, France and Germany. The game will be shown on TSN1/3/4/5 in Canada
Patrik Laine vs Auston Matthews isn’t just something that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be thinking about until June. It will be the story of the tournament’s action on Monday. Everyone will likely read way too much into the results of this tournament to declare which player is more deserving of the top pick but this provides us with some intrigue normally reserved for the World Juniors. Finland is 2-0 after wins against Belarus and Germany, while the USA bounced back against Belarus after opening the tournament with a loss against Canada. The game will be shown on TSN1/3 in Canada
All games will be streamed here (subject to geo-blocking). TSN Go will be streaming all of the games as well in Canada.
