UPDATE: Defenseman Aaron Ekblad was a late scratch for Team North America. The Calder Trophy winner was hit by Finland's Leo Komarov on Sunday night and suffered an upper body injury. Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba will replace Ekblad in the lineup.

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The 4-1 North America victory over Finland on Sunday may have silenced a few skeptics that thought their early success was a product of teams not playing at 100% during the exhibition schedule.

The 23-and under squad received strong 24-save performance from Pittsburgh’s Matt Murray and applied steady offensive pressure early to put the more experienced Finns on their heels.

Head coach Todd McLellan kept the combo of Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews together (they were united in the loss to the Czech Republic last week), on a regular line with Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele and on the first power play with Buffalo’s Jack Eichel. That paid off early in the first, as Matthews set up Eichel for a power play goal.

Eichel goal pic.twitter.com/idD1EvX9Or

— Stephanie (@myregularface) September 19, 2016

North America nearly scored twice more in the first, as a puck got past Finn goalie Pekka Rinne but did not completely cross the goal line and the puck that crossed was waved off due to goaltender interference, but put the game away with a three-goal outburst in the second, as Johnny Gaudreau, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon added to the lead.

The most impressive part of the victory was that the youngsters did not wilt against a veteran squad that has enjoyed success in recent Olympics and international tournaments and has a history of playing an aggressive style of game.

Leafs forward Leo Komarov and 2016 second overall pick Patrik Laine attempted to step up the hitting with runs at Aaron Ekblad and Dylan Larkin, but the North Americans were unphased and continued to play a sound two-way game that limited the Finns ability to stage a comeback.

The “young guns” could pretty much clinch an advance to the tournament semi-final with a win over Team Russia on Monday night.

The Russians lost 2-1 to Sweden on Sunday, after a late tying goal from Alex Ovechkin was disallowed for being gloved in. Murray is expected to get the start on back-to-back nights, while Russia will go once again with Sergei Bobrovsky.

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