We kick off the NHL 4 Nations tournament with one of the hosts Canada against a very formidable Sweden. I think the strength of the hosts gets us here, but I am expecting goals one way or another. For starters, while i do believe the players care - i just don’t know if they will be diving to block shots defensively in the middle of their current seasons to potentially risk injury. And even if they do care, the amount of fire power up and down both of these lineups I’m frankly insane. Both team Canada and Sweden have point per game players stored away on their 3rd lines. The goaltending is my main point behind this bet however. We are projected to get Jordan Binnington vs Filip Gustavsson. Jordan Binnington has downright not been good this year, he ranks 46th in the NHL in GSAX the worst of any starting goalie competing at this event. Filip Gustavsson is the better goalie but i cannot see the Canadians struggling to score with the firepower upfront. I think Sweden, although the weaker side can get a couple past Binnington if his struggles continue. Give me goals to open up this tournament tomorrow.

This USA team is stacked, and while Finland is great up front and has a formidable team - the defense and goaltending lack in that department. Injuries have not been kind to them, losing their star Miro Heiskanen followed by losing Rasmussen Ristolainen and Jani Hakanpaa. Their D core is now pretty brutal and won’t be easy to stop a high flying offense like the states. The other point is Juuse Saros has not been himself this year. He is having his worst season ever, he is allowing nearly 4 more goals then expected this year and has a sub .900 save percentage. The US on the other hand should be ready to go. The loss of Quinn Hughes hurts but their D core is more then good enough to be solid tomorrow.