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After losing their opener 4-1 to team North America, Team Finland lost yesterday to Sweden 2-0 (one goal being an empty netter) all but eliminating them from the next round of the World Cup.
When you consider how much better the Swedes are on paper, this outcome, and the fact that they split two preliminary games against them, is pretty decent for the Finns.
Hedman, OEL, Karlsson - one could make a legitimate case that these are the top 3 defenseman in the NHL. The Swedes also have Stralman and Lindholm (though he didn't dress)- two guys arguably in the top ten. And they have Mattias Ekholm who is also pretty good.
With five of the best D in the world on one team, and Lundqvist in net, the Swedes look damn near unbeatable on paper.
The Finns counter with Sami Lepisto.
When teams are this unevenly matched, there is only one way for the underdog to play, and it makes for a somewhat boring game. Credit to Finland though, they had a terrible roster relative to Sweden and they still managed to almost win, out-shooting their opponent and, at times, driving the play.
Unfortunately, of their 36 shots, most weren't dangerous and when they were, Lundqvist was, well, Lundqvist.
Rask was also good for Finland, too bad they didn't play him against North America. (Rinne was terrible).
As for the rest of the tournament, if Finland wins vs Russia tomorrow and Sweden beats NA to go 3-0, then there is a chance Finland moves on, as every team besides Sweden would be 1-2 and the best goal differential out of the three 1-2 teams would move on.
In that case, the Finns would have to win by / have NA lose by a combined 8 goals to pass them in the tie breaker.
So for instance, if Sweden beats North America 6-0 and Finland beats Russia 2-0, the Finns will join the Swedes in the semis.
Or Sweden could win 1-0 and Finland could with 7-0 - you get the idea!!
Basically, they will need a Christmas miracle from their boy Joulupukki.
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