Big news broke about 30 minutes before game time, as Henrik Lundqvist is out for the contest against Russia due to illness. This information came as a shock to all, as Lundqvist was ready and able to go in practice the other day, though the latest, per Larry Brooks, is that Lundqvist has the flu. Lundqvist's absence puts more pressure on Sweden's fine defense in front of Jacob Markstrom, who gets the nod over Jhonas Enroth to replace Lundqvist. Markstrom started Sweden's first pre-tourney game, which Lundqvist missed due to his rib injury.
The projected lineups for Sweden and Russia are:
PROJECTED SWEDEN ROSTER
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Loui Eriksson Filip Forsberg – Nicklas Backstrom – Patric Hornqvist Carl Hagelin – Marcus Kruger – Jakob Silfverberg Gabriel Landeskog – Mikael Backlund – Carl Soderberg
(Kruger returns from his injury to center the third line while Backlund is in for Berglund)
Mattias Ekholm – Erik Karlsson Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Niklas Hjalmarsson
(Ekholm is in while Hampus Lindholm is out. Personally think Lindholm should be in)
Jacob Markstrom
PROJECTED RUSSIA ROSTER
Alex Ovechkin – Pavel Datsyuk – Nikita Kucherov Nikolay Kulemin – Evgeni Malkin – Vladimir Tarasenko Artemi Panarin – Vadim Shipachyov – Evgeny Dadonov Ivan Telegin – Artem Anisimov – Evgeny Kuznetsov
(don't be surprised if Panarin and Kulemin switch spots and Kuz moves up a line as well)
Dmitry Orlov – Nikita Zaitsev Andrei Markov – Alexei Emelin Dmitry Kulikov – Alexey Marchenko
(the weak link for Russia. Zaitsev was impressive in the pre-tourney games and he is one to watch)
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sweden faces Finland on Tuesday. The hope has to be whatever illness Hank has clears up by then. If Markstrom can get Tre Kroner a win, coach Rikard Gronberg could turn to him again against Finland, allowing Lundqvist more time.