How to watch
Puck drop: 8:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM PST
In Canada: TSN1, TSN4 (English,) RDS2 (French)
In the United States: NHL Network
Live stream: TSN Direct, RDS Direct
New Year’s Eve games are an annual tradition at the World Junior Hockey Championship, and Canada usually gets its biggest test in the final match of the preliminary round. This year the opponent is Team Russia, off to a typical start that leaves something to be desired from the nation, despite the fact that they’ve won all of their games to this point.
In last night’s contest, the Russians found themselves down 3-1 to Switzerland partway through the second period. But they took over from there, going on to win 7-4.
Team Canada will be a bit short-handed for tonight’s game, missing their seventh defenceman, Jared McIsaac, who is suspended for the match. The top three pairings are still intact, so it won’t be a major blow for the team, but does remove one option to help shut down the Russian attack.
It will be a game featuring three Montreal Canadiens prospects. Josh Brook could see a bit more ice time with McIsaac out, while Nick Suzuki will be looking to show off his playmaking abilities up front. Alexander Romanov has been Russia’s best defenceman, controlling the puck to aid the transition game, and is tied for the team lead in points, with four, as well. He will no doubt be a significant factor in the game this evening.
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 |
#20 Brett Leason |
| #15 Shane Bowers |
#11 Jaret Anderson-Dolan |
#17 Nick Suzuki |
| #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 |
Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
| #1 Mikey DiPietro |
| #31 Ian Scott |
Team Russia projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #9 Artyom Galimov |
#23 Ivan Muranov |
#29 Kirill Slepets |
| #14 Vitali Kravtsov |
#24 Klim Kostin |
#28 Grigori Denisenko |
| #10 Stepan Starkov |
#15 Nikolai Kovalenko |
#16 Pavel Shen |
| #11 Vasili Podkolzin |
#12 Kirill Marchenko |
#17 Ivan Morozov |
| #18 Nikita Shashkov |
|
|
Defencemen
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #2 Danila Zhuravlyov |
#6 Ilya Morozov |
| #5 Dmitri Samorukov |
#27 Mark Rubinchik |
| #26 Alexander Romanov |
#4 Alexander Alexeyev |
| #8 Saveli Olshansky |
|
Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
| #20 Pyotr Kochetkov |
| #30 Daniil Tarasov |
