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GDT: Group B - May 9 - Finland (3) vs USA (2) (MOD WARNING - POSTS 26 & 275)

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Tony Piscotta said:
Not sure how you come to that conclusion. True, USA is not their A squad in terms of the guys available.

But Finland is in a similar boat. No Ristolainen, Maatta, Vatanen on defense. Lehtera, Teravainen, Filppula missing from the forward group and the top Finnish goalies are either still in the playoffs or not with the squad.

It seems like on paper both teams are fairly evenly matched. If not a slight advantage to the USA.
Click to expand...

The Finnish forwards are quite a bit better than what USA has been putting out. Defense USA might have a slight advantage but I am not familiar with Finland's defenseman.

Fact of the matter is the Finns are a much more experienced team while the USA has a number of guys that have yet to even have any significant impact at the NHL level.

5-2 Finland

This one won't look good for the Americans. They got stifled against a much better Canadian team and the same will happen here tonight.
 
My guess is a lot of fans are gonna be disappointed:

Laine will be a no show today.

He wasn't great in back to backs during the season, and now he has 80 something games behind, and an opponent far beyond anything he has faced before.

On top of that, US likely has scouted his willingness to shoot better than Germany/Belarus. There will be a D-man and the goalie closing on his shot far earlier.

0+0 and declared a 3rd OA bust in HFBoards all within today.

Matthews has fresh legs but lousy wingers, I don't think he will play a multipoint game either. Laine could ride his line mates coat tails to points, but he likely won't have the legs to keep up with Barkov/Jokinen during a back to back. After a full summer worth of speed skating training, it will be another story. I just think this tournament came a year too early for Laine to shine.
 
The first real test for Finland, especially because it is against USA. But I'm not sure about the strength of the US team, they lost 5-1 against Canada. Ok, Canada is again very strong like last year.

But I'm optimistic and predict a 1 goal win for Finland, though last year they lost 5-1 against the USA. We will see how Laine plays against a stronger team. I'm only a little bit afraid that Koskinen allows easy goals. His saving rate is not so high so far, especially not considering that Finland played only against much weaker opponents so far.
 
USA lineup

CiBp0rJUUAAcT7t.jpg
 
Team USA is a young and fast team.

But I think the Finns win this 4-2 or 5-3.

Some people predicting Laine will be a no show, but I predict the opposite.

Laine with 1 goal and 1 assist. Granny comes up big, and so does Komarov.

Koskinen lets in a few cheesy goals. Larkin with 2 pts.

:handclap:
 
Barkov will have lots of room to shoot on PP as i expect USA to put one guy on Laine all the time, think Barkov will score today.
 
Our Finnish Lions have played fairly well thus far. If they can triumph over strong USA team tonight then only sky is limiting. Triplicating what young Finnish Lions and junior Finnish Lions did earlier this year would be great success indeed, cementing current Finnish Lions generation amongst the best ever!
 
There is something in Matthews that makes me scared of him. Dude oozes confidence and calmness. His body language is scary. If we can contain him I like our chances.
 
i put a few bucks on 5-4 for Finland, i don't trust either D or goalies so should be goal rich
 
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