With the lesser countries pre-tournament games yesterday, they can all gather together and watch their biggest fear play out in front of their eyes. Versus Team USA. That’s right, Team Canada is ready to unleash the awesome potential of a Duchene-Giroux-Thornton FOURTH LINE.
Sorry USA, but Justin Abdelkader-David Backes-T.J. Oshie doesn’t strike nearly as much fear into hearts.
Tonight in Columbus, Ohio, home of the NHL Institute on How to Not Salary Cap, Team USA takes on Team Canada in one of two exhibition games this weekend. Tomorrow night both teams fly to Ottawa for the second game and then rest until the tournament kicks off.
What can we expect from this game? Well, looking at Sweden vs Finland the pest game was at mid-season form early on and the score was kept close. Russia vs Czech had one hell of a finish, but North America vs Europe? It’s what all the complainers were complaining about before there was anything to complain about.
When/Where:
7:00PM Eastern, Nationwide Arena. Columbus, Ohio.
How to Watch:
TV: ESPNU, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360, TVA Sports
Streaming: ESPN, Sportsnet Now, Game Centre Live
GDT: Right here baby!
Potential Lines:
Canada:
Brad Marchand - Sidney Crosby - Patrice Bergeron
Logan Couture - Jonathan Toews - Tyler Seguin
John Tavares - Ryan Getzlaf - Steven Stamkos
Matt Duchene - Claude Giroux - Joe Thornton
Corey Perry
Jake Muzzin - Drew Doughty
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Shea Weber
Alex Pietrangelo - Brent Burns
Jay Bouwmeester
Price
Holtby
USA:
Max Pacioretty - Joe Pavelski - Patrick Kane
Zach Parise - Derek Stepan - Blake Wheeler
Justin Abdelkader - Ryan Kesler - T.J. Oshie
Kyle Palmieri - David Backes - Brandon Dubinsky
Scratch: James van Riemsdyk
Ryan Suter - Dustin Byfuglien
Ryan McDonagh - John Carlson
Jack Johnson - Matt Niskanen
Scratch: Erik Johnson
Quick - 2 periods
Bishop - 1 period
Scratch: Schneider
My prediction
I predict Canada will go easy on Team USA, but USA will come out full force and try to knock down all criticism of how then team is built.
They’ll still lose.