The NHL’s and NHLPA’s 4 Nations Face-Off has a pair of rivalry games today. First is the big Northern Europe rivalry: Finland vs. Sweden. Discuss what happens between Haula’s Finns and Bratt’s Swedes in this post.
The 4 Nations Face-Off will have a huge Saturday of rivalry games. The first is the big one in Northern Europe: Sweden and Finland.
There is a special rule for these posts: please no comments about how much you do not care about the tournament or how much it does not matter or so forth. I get it. Not everyone is excited for this. Please do not come into the comments in this post and add nothing to the conversation for the People Who Matter who are interested in this game and this tournament. Those who violate them may be warned, and banned for repeated offenses.
The Time: 1 PM ET
The Broadcast: TV: ABC, SportsNet, TVAS; Streaming: ESPN+
The Location: The Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Matchup: Finland vs. Sweden
The Devils Involved: Two New Jersey Devils are involved: Jesper Bratt for Sweden and Erik Haula for Finland.
The Finnish Roster: Barring any last-minute injury replacements:
Forwards (13): Mikko Rantanen (Carolina), Sebastian Aho (Carolina), Aleksander Barkov (Florida), Mikael Granlund (Dallas), Teuvo Teravainen (Chicago), Roope Hintz (Dallas), Anton Lundell (Florida), Artturi Lehkonen (Colorado), Kaapo Kakko (Seattle), Joel Armia (Montreal), Eetu Luostarinen (Florida), Patrik Laine (Montreal), Erik Haula (New Jersey Devils)
Defensemen (7): Esa Lindell (Dallas), Niko Mikkola (Florida), Olli Maatta (Utah), Urho Vaakanainen (Our Hated Rivals), Juuso Valimaki (Utah), Henri Jokiharju (Buffalo), Jani Hakanpaa (Toronto), Nikolas Matinpalo (Ottawa)
Goaltenders (3): Kevin Lankinen (Vancouver), Juuse Saros (Nashville), Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen (Buffalo)
The Swedish Roster: Barring any last-minute injury replacements:
Forwards (13): Jesper Bratt (New Jersey Devils), Lucas Raymond (Detroit), William Nylander (Toronto), Filip Forsberg (Nashville), Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles), Mika Zibanejad (Our Hated Rivals), Elias Pettersson (Vancouver), Elias Lindholm (Boston), Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota), Gustav Nyquist (Nashville), Leo Carlsson (Anaheim), Viktor Arvidsson (Edmonton), William Karlsson (Las Vegas)
Defensemen (7): Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo), Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay), Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh), Mattias Ekholm (Edmonton), Rasmus Andersson (Calgary), Gustav Forsling (Florida), Jonas Brodin (Minnesota)
Goaltenders (3): Filip Gustavsson (Minnesota), Linus Ullmark (Ottawa), Sam Ersson (Philadelphia)
The Rules: The usual rules still apply as if this was a Devils gamethread. No swearing, no personal attacks or beefs, no comments or links to illegal streams, and, as ever, play nice or you will not play at all. And remember the special rule at the top.
Enjoy the 4 Nations Face-Off!