Olympic Hockey Preview: Canucks’ Pettersson, Hronek, Kämpf and Lankinen all in action; Canada battles Switzerland

Fully in the swing of the round robin, hockey fans are spoiled with the quality of hockey we’re seeing when the best collide with one another. And now, we’ve got a fully stacked Friday for Vancouver Canucks fans.Elias Pettersson and Team Sweden battle Team Finland and Kevin Lankinen. Filip Hronek, David Kämpf, and Team Czechia look to make their mark on the tournament against Team France. And to wrap up the day, Canada vs. Switzerland. Hockey fans are spoiled on a Friday.Finland vs. Sweden

Coverage for Team Finland vs. Team Sweden kicks off on February 13 at 3:10 AM PST / 12:10 PM local from Milano Santagiulia IHO. Viewers can watch on CBC, Bell Media (TSN) and Rogers Media (Sportsnet).

Here are the projected lines for tomorrow’s games, provided by Daily Faceoff.

*Note. Teams start an extra forward (13) and defenceman (7) per game. The fourth pairing is the extra forward and defenceman.

Finland is making some changes. Oliver Kapanen replaces Joel Kiviranta as the 13th forward, while Nikolas Matinpalo will step in for Mikko Lehtonen as the seventh defenceman.

*Note. Teams start an extra forward (13) and defenceman (7) per game. The fourth pairing is the extra forward and defenceman.

William Nylander missed another practice on Thursday. However, he is projected to play.

Despite struggling against Slovakia with a 3.06 goals against average and a .875 save percentage, Juuse Saros gets the start against the Swedes.

Another goaltender who struggled early in his opening game, Sweden is sticking with Filip Gustavsson.

Sebastian Aho: Watching the Finns in the opening game, they were clearly the better team through 40 minutes. The two most noticeable lines were the Aho line and the Lundell line. The Finnish top line will draw the shutdown line, and will need to rely on their next best offensive threat to lead them if they want any glimmer of hope at avoiding the qualifying round.

Joel Eriksson Ek: The Minnesota Wild was a volume shooter against the Italians. He was a big presence at the net front, registering four shots on goal from that location through the first handful of minutes, and finished the game with nine in total. If he’s going to continue to get this deployment, playing important minutes on the top line and in all situations, with this volume, he’s going to make his mark on the scoresheet sooner rather than later.

France vs. Czechia

Coverage for Team France vs. Team Czechia kicks off on February 13 at 7:40 AM PST / 4:40 PM local from Milano Santagiulia IHO. Viewers can watch on CBC, Bell Media (TSN) and Rogers Media (Sportsnet).

Here are the projected lines for tomorrow’s games, provided by Daily Faceoff.

*Note. Teams start an extra forward (13) and defenceman (7) per game. The fourth pairing is the extra forward and defenceman.

*Note. Teams start an extra forward (13) and defenceman (7) per game. The fourth pairing is the extra forward and defenceman.

With both teams playing earlier on Thursday, neither team has confirmed a starting goaltender at the time of this writing.

Antoine Keller got the start on Thursday. He stopped 39 of the 43 shots he faced in their 4-0 loss to Switzerland. If France does not want to start him on back-to-back nights, backup Martin Neckar projects get the nod.

Lukas Dostal started against the Canadians. He stopped 31 of the 36 shots in the Czechs’ 5-0 loss. Dan Vladar served as Dostal’s backup on Thursday. He or Karel Vejmelka, who leads the NHL in wins, will get the start.

David Pastrnak: One can imagine how frustrated a player of Pastrnak’s ilk will be coming off a big 5-0 loss to Canada. He was held to just one scoring chance, one shot on goal and a minus-two rating in 18:05 minutes of ice time. Now against a weaker opponent in the French, Pastrnak should have plenty of opportunity to take out his frustration and lead the Czech’s to their first win of the tournament.

Canada vs. Switzerland

Coverage for Team Canada vs. Team Switzerland kicks off on February 13 at 12:10 PM PST / 9:10 PM local from Milano Santagiulia IHO. Viewers can watch on CBC, Bell Media (TSN) and Rogers Media (Sportsnet).

Here are the projected lines for tomorrow’s games, provided by Daily Faceoff.

Josh Morrissey was injured on Thursday against the Czechs. There is no update on his status. If he is forced to miss this match against the Swiss, expect Travis Sanheim to make his Olympic debut as the seventh defenceman. *Drew Doughty and Thomas Harley, who made up the third pair against Czechia, are not listed in the photo but will play.

With both teams playing earlier on Thursday, neither team has confirmed a starting goaltender at the time of this writing.

Jordan Binnington stopped all 26 shots he faced in Canada’s 5-0 shutout loss to the Czechs on Thursday. To avoid giving Binnington back-to-back starts, Logan Thompson could get the nod.

Leonardo Genoni matched Binnington with a shutout of his own against France, stopping 27 shots in the process. NHL goaltender Akira Schmid is in line for the start against the juggernaut Canadians.

Connor McDavid: Shocker. I mean, did anybody not watch McDavid in awe out there? He was dominant, finishing the game with three helpers on the night, with six shots on goal in 18:04 minutes of ice time. It was a bit shocking that he did not light the lamp himself in this game, with the quality of looks he had, none better than that chance all alone, where Dostal robbed him twice. One can imagine he’s eager to get his first Olympic goal after a six-shot outing.

Nico Hischier: Regardless of who Hischier gets matched up against, it’s going to be a struggle for him to keep McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or Sidney Crosby off the scoresheet. However, if he can flip the script during his minutes by limiting Canada’s production while providing offence himself, Hischier is the clearest X-Factor for Switzerland. It’s a tall and unlikely task, but if he can’t at least shut down the Canadians a little bit, the Swiss may not even stand a chance.

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