Sweden faces their long time rival Finland in the second game for each in the World Cup. Tre Kroner comes in off a 2-1 win over Russia while the Finns were waxed 4-1 by Team North America. A Swedish win would almost all but clinch a spot in the medal round (see tiebreaker rules below).

The big news today is that Henrik Lundqvist, who missed the win over Russia with the flu, will be back between the pipes. Sweden didn't miss Lundqvist thanks to the strong performance of Jacob Markstrom and their team defense. Lundqvist struggled in pre-tourney play, getting pulled against Team Europe in Sweden's final game before the World Cup officially started.

The line combinations for both the forwards and defensemen should be the same as against Russia. That means we should see:

Sedin-Sedin-Eriksson
Forsberg-Backstrom-Hornqvist.
Hagelin-Kruger-Silfverberg
Soderberg-Backlund-Landeskog.

EK-Hjalmarsson
Ekholm-OEL
Hedman-Stralman

Finland will also have a change in goal. But it's performance based, not driven by returning back to their starter. Pekka Rinne, who started against Team North America and didn't play that badly, will be replaced by Tuukka Rask. The move makes some sense, as Rask was stellar at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, posting a 1.73 GAA and .937 save percentage in helping the Finns capture bronze. That international experience and ability to shine on the bigger stage are two main drivers for the change.

As noted above, Sweden comes into the game 1-0 with a regulation win while Finland is 0-1. Russia is 1-1 with a loss to Sweden and regulation win Monday over Team North America while North America is also 1-1 by virtue of their regulation win over Finland and loss to Russia. Sweden and North America will meet, same for Finland and Russia.

Sweden with a regulation win today will be in control of their own destiny against Team North America. Any points earned in that game will guarantee a spot in the semifinals. If that happens, then it will only be a two-way tie for the second spot. Right now, Russia by virtue of their win over North America will have the edge there. North America right now leads the goal differential battle between the two teams 3-1.

Tiebreaking Procedures

The following tiebreakers will determine group rankings at the conclusion of the round robin:

Two-Way Tie

Any tie between two teams will be decided by the result of their head-to-head game.

Three/Four-Way Tie

Steps 1-5 will be calculated based upon ALL games played:

Step 1: Total Points (2 points for any win, 1 point for any OT/SO loss)
Step 2: ROW (total regulation/OT wins, not including shootout wins)
Step 3: Regulation Wins (total regulation wins only)
Step 4: Goal Differential (total goals for minus total goals against)
Step 5: Total Goals Scored (total goals for)
Steps 6-7 will be calculated based upon games played between tied teams only:

* Step 6: Goal Differential (total goals for minus total goals against)
* Step 7: Total Goals Scored (total goals for)

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