While this game holds no meaning in terms of tournament outcomes, it will be hard for Vancouver Canucks fans not to be extra glued to the TV watching Team Sweden’s Elias Pettersson take on Team USA’s JT Miller for the first time since the trade.
The reported rift between the two in the locker room ultimately ended with Miller being traded to the New York Rangers. Canucks fans will get to see how far these frustrations between the two go based on the physicality levels in this matchup.
Let’s preview this game.
Start time and info
Coverage for Team Sweden vs. Team USA kicks off at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST from TD Garden in Boston.
This game can be streamed on Sportsnet.ca in Canada (subscription required) and TVA Sports (subscription required). Other streaming platforms to watch the game (outside of Canada): TNT, truTV and Max.
Projected lines
Here are the projected lines for today, provided by Daily Faceoff.
Leo Carlsson and Rasmus Andersson will make their debut for Team Sweden. Two Edmonton Oilers, Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm, come out of the lineup.
Matthew Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy will be held out of the lineup for injuries. Chris Kreider and Jake Sanderson will make their Team USA debut.
Starting goalies
Samuel Ersson will get his first start of the tournament tonight for Team Sweden. With Filip Gustavsson’s illness, Linus Ullmark will likely serve as the backup.
Jake Oettinger will start for Team USA, with Jeremy Swayman backing him up. Connor Hellebuyck will rest in preparation for the finals on Thursday night.
Players to watch
Team Sweden has switched up their lines. They’ve loaded the top line now with Jesper Bratt and William Nylander on Mika Zibanejad’s wing. Nylander has been buzzing so far in this tournament but has yet to find the back of the net. Look for him to make an impact and try to will the offence in this matchup.
Team USA is resting some of their players for this match. In turn, they also have some changes in their lineup. Former Canuck JT Miller gets the promotion up to Matthew Tkachuk’s spot, playing alongside Jack Eichel and Brady Tkachuk. Miller has failed to register a shot so far in this tournament, but with this deployment, we could see him get more involved.
Speaking of Miller, all eyes will be on the Pettersson/Miller matchup. Can Pettersson find his first point of the tournament? Can Miller make an impact in an elevated role? Will we see some feistiness between these two? We’ll wait and see.
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