Team Canada will be facing significant pressure when it takes the ice at TD Garden for its Monday afternoon game against Team Finland. Connor McDavid and his teammates are trying to earn a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game against Team USA, and the Canadians will have to beat Finland in regulation time to clinch that opportunity.
Canada, Finland and Team Sweden all have 2 standings points as they head into the final game of the round robin portion of the tournament. Canada (2 points) defeated Sweden in overtime and Finland (2 points) also defeated the Swedes (1 point). As a result, all 3 teams are tied. Overtime winners gained 2 standings points, while overtime losers get 1 point. Regulation losers get no points for their effort.
Team Canada suffered a 3-1 loss in regulation to the United States Saturday night at the Bell Center in Montreal. The emotional meeting between the two rivals started off with 3 fights in the game’s first 9 seconds. After the fisticuffs came to an end, McDavid scored the opening goal of the game when he took a tape-to-tape pass from Drew Doughty and raced through the Team USA defense before he roofed a backhand shot past United States goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
The Bell Center crowd exploded after the Canadians took a 1-0 lead, but the United States locked down Team Canada’s offense after that goal. Team USA’s Charlie McAvoy put his imprint on the game with thunderous checks against McDavid and Sidney Crosby. The U.S. took charge of the game as Jake Guentzel scored two goals and Dylan Larkin scored the other goal for the victorious Americans.
McDavid prepared for Canada’s key game vs. Finland
While Canada lost at the Bell Center to the United States, McDavid was not conceding anything to the Americans. He is anxious to help his team get to the title game so it can get another chance against Team USA.
“It was fast, tight-checking, competitive, emotional,” McDavid explained. “It had everything you would want in a hockey game. It sucks it didn’t go our way, but this thing’s far from over.”
Canada would appear to have an advantage over Finland in their Monday afternoon meeting. Team Finland is clearly a solid team, but they don’t have players that can match the explosiveness of McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. The Avalanche defenseman missed the game against Team USA due to illness, but he says he will be in the lineup if there is any possibility that he can play.
