Olympic hockey preview: William Nylander ready to take on Sweden vs. to lead Finland
William Nylander and Team Sweden will face the toughest test of the preliminary round and face arch rivals Finland on Friday.
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson did not play any shifts in Wednesday’s opener despite preparing for the game. Ekman-Larsson is expected to feature as Sweden’s seventh defender again against Finland.
“I think it’s just the format,” Swedish head coach Sam Hallam said via Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com. ‘We are used to dressing six people [defencemen]12 [forwards]. You never have this question in the NHL. We didn’t have it in the 4 Nations. So it’s the format that gives us the opportunity to have an extra ‘D’, an extra attacker on the bench, and if we didn’t dress as seven and thirteen and got injured early, I’d look pretty stupid.”
“It’s not the first time,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I’m here to support my team, and I’m here to play when they need me to play, so we need everyone who’s here to work together and be on the same page, and that’s where we are.”
Sweden-Finland is always one of the most important matches on the international calendar, and the stakes are even higher. Slovakia defeated Finland 4-1 on Thursday in the other match in Group B. Sweden and Slovakia are tied for the lead in Group B, while Finland could sink to the bottom of the division with another defeat. Italy will face Slovakia in the other match at 6:10 AM ET.
Czech Republic will look to bounce back from a 5-0 loss to Canada when it goes into action France. It wasn’t necessarily a bad game from the Czech Republic, but Canada’s top offensive talent won in the end. France lost 4-0 to Switzerland in the opening match.
Canada resumes its tournament at 3:10 p.m Switzerlandin a match that will likely determine top spot in Group A. While Canada will be heavily favored, ignore Switzerland, led by Nico Hischier, Roman Josi, Timo Meier and JJ Moser, at your own peril.
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