Canada vs. Finland
How to watch
Puck drop: 6:30 PM EST / 3:30 PM PST
In Canada: TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5, TSN4K (English,) RDS (French)
In the United States: NHL Network
Live stream: TSN Direct, RDS Direct
Canada and Finland have already played each other as part of the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship. In a pre-tournament tune-up game on December 23, Finland went on to win by a 5-2 score.
While they did hit that number of goals two times in the round robin, in games against gold-medal contenders Sweden and USA the offence was non-existent. Finland had just two goals total versus the eventual top seeds of Group B.
They were heavy favourites for a medal before the tournament began, but those results, along with surprisingly poor offensive showings from top players Eeli Tolvanen and Rasmus Kupari, meant two losses and a third-place finish after the preliminary round. Their best offensive player has just two goals (with sole possession of that title), while half the skaters have either one or zero points on their statlines.
Unless they can find a way to contain the tournament’s highest-scoring team, the Finns will need to see several slumps busted this evening to make it to the semifinal.
Canada will be counting on the multi-line offensive effort they’ve enjoyed throughout — six of the team’s forwards have at least two goals — while hoping the top defensive unit can keep things contained at the back end.
The Finns know that Canada is beatable. Both teams are in this matchup because of losses on New Year’s Eve. Whichever one stops a losing streak from reaching two is staying alive in the tournament tonight.
Team Canada projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #14 Maxime Comtois | #8 Cody Glass | #21 Owen Tippett |
| #26 Morgan Frost | #27 Barrett Hayton | #17 Nick Suzuki |
| #15 Shane Bowers | #11 Jaret Anderson-Dolan | #20 Brett Leason |
| #9 Joseph Veleno | #16 MacKenzie Entwistle | #23 Jack Studnicka |
| #22 Alexis Lafrenière |
Defencemen
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #18 Markus Phillips | #2 Evan Bouchard |
| #3 Josh Brook | #5 Ian Mitchell |
| #24 Ty Smith | #6 Noah Dobson |
| #4 Jared McIsaac |
Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
|---|
| #1 Mikey DiPietro |
| #31 Ian Scott |
Team Finland projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| #25 Aarne Talvitie | #19 Rasmus Kupari | #10 Aleksi Heponiemi |
| #20 Eeli Tolvanen | #29 Anton Lundell | #24 Kaapo Kakko |
| #13 Valtteri Puustinen | #22 Santeri Virtanen | #27 Jesse Ylönen |
| #28 Sami Moilanen | #12 Samuli Vainionpää | #18 Teemu Engberg |
| #23 Linus Nyman |
Defencemen
| Left Defence | Right Defence |
|---|---|
| #15 Henri Jokiharju | #34 Ville Heinola |
| #2 Oskari Laaksonen | #7 Urho Vaakanainen |
| #3 Toni Utunen | #21 Otto Latvala |
| #36 Anttoni Honka |
Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
|---|
| #1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen |
| #31 Filip Lindberg |
