At the men's ice hockey world championships, the only two remaining undefeated teams meet in the final match of the preliminary round on Tuesday. The Finnish Lions play Canada at 8.15 at the Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.
On Monday evening, Canada blanked France, 4-0, to maintain its perfect record. The Finns will have the advantage of another rest day after nailing 2002 champions Slovakia 5-0 in Saint Petersburg on Sunday.
The Finns and Canadians, both with 6-0 records, are tied at the top of Group B. The Czechs and Russians lead Group A with 6-4 and 6-5 records respectively.
Finland's top scorer – and the tournament's number-two so far – Patrik Laine told Yle that he's not nervous about the match-up against Canada.
"We'll use the same kind of play as against Hungary, for instance. A win to end the round in first place, that's our goal," he said on Monday.
Finns and Russians top the scorers' table
So far Laine has hammered in six goals along with four assists, which put him at the top of the points table ahead of Monday's matches. Russia's Vadim Shipachyov then edged past him with three goals and eight assists, while his teammate Artemi Panarin boasted four goals and six assists.
Finland's Aleksander Barkov is close behind with three goals and six assists.
Laine is the star of Tampere's Tappara, who won the Finnish league title in late April, two days after Finland won the under-18 world championship. He said on Monday that he had not yet studied the Canadian side in-depth.
"But I know what players they have and who you have to particularly stay awake around," he said.
Meanwhile the Lions had some bad news on Monday: defence stalwart Anssi Salmela is being sent home on Tuesday morning with an "acute back injury". Salmela has had the team's best defence statistics alongside Juuso Hietanen.
Salmela is a veteran of the 2011 world championship team, so his loss will be felt as the Lions fight for another title. The quarter-finals kick off on Thursday.
