How to watch
Puck drop: 8:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM PST
In Canada: TSN2 (English,) RDS2 (French)
In the United States: NHL Network
Live stream: TSN Direct, RDS Direct
It’s been the Ryan Poehling show at the World Juniors through the first week. The Montreal Canadiens prospect leads the tournament with eight points and co-leads in goals, with five. He was front and centre in the top game of the round robin, recording a point on each goal as Team USA erased a four-goal deficit in the third period against Sweden.
He leads his team into a battle with what has been one of the top defensive squads at the event. The Czech Republic has allowed an averge of two goals per contest to this point, and has one of the best penalty kills as well.
The Americans counter that with the best power play of the 10 participating nations, scoring on better than one of every three man advantages they receive. While the Czechs can have confidence in their defensive play while a man down, they’d be wise to not test it too often this evening.
Filip Zadina, a top pick in last year’s NHL draft, will need to be a bigger factor in the quarter-final than he was in the opening games. The player known for his shooting skills in his draft year is goalless to this point, with just a single assist to his name. Without a bit of offence, it won’t matter how efficient the team is at limiting USA’s offence.
Team USA projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #28 Joel Farabee |
#14 Josh Norris |
#15 Jason Robertson |
| #21 Noah Cates |
#17 Evan Barratt |
#9 Tyler Madden |
| #12 Logan Cockerill |
#11 Ryan Poehling |
#18 Oliver Wahlstrom |
| #6 Jack Hughes |
#8 Sasha Chmelevski |
#16 Jay O’Brien |
| #19 Jack Drury |
|
|
Defencemen
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #4 Dylan Samberg |
#26 Mikey Anderson |
| #7 Quinn Hughes |
#25 Phil Kemp |
| #24 Mattias Samuelsson |
#2 Jack St. Ivany |
|
#20 K’Andre Miller |
Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
| #30 Cayden Primeau |
| #1 Kyle Keyser |
Team Czech Republic projected lineup
Forwards
| Left Wing |
Centre |
Right Wing |
| #19 Filip Zadina |
#18 Martin Nečas |
#16 Martin Kaut |
| #13 Jan Hladonik |
#14 Jan Jeník |
#17 Ondřej Machala |
| #15 Jakub Lauko |
#26 Kryštof Hrabík |
#29 Jáchym Kondelík |
| #5 Matěj Pekař |
#12 Jan Kern |
#25 Jakub Pour |
| #28 Karel Plášek |
|
|
Defencemen
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| #10 Jakub Galvas |
#7 David Kvasnička |
| #11 Filip Král |
#22 Dalimil Mikyska |
| #21 Radim Šalda |
#23 Daniel Bukač |
Goaltenders
| Goaltenders |
| #2 Lukáš Dostál |
| #1 Jakub Škarek |
