The NHL can often be its own worst enemy. And then every once in a while, they do something that shouldn't work, but absolutely does. Add in the current political climate, and suddenly winning two hockey games this week has become vital to the entire nation.
There were two issues from that game on Saturday that need to be addressed moving forward, one of them was something that will have to be adjusted on the fly, the other a problem that everyone who knows even a passing amount about hockey could have told them was going to happen.
Jordan Binnington is not the answer. He's not even the third best goaltender this country has at its disposal, and the fact that they went with him, even after a barely passable performance against the Swedes really makes you wonder about how the brain trust at Hockey Canada evaluates talent. Binnington let his team down by not making the stops they needed.
And then there was the USA's defence shutting down the Canadian attack all game long, and Jon Cooper and his staff need to figure out how to do break this down and get more opportunities, because this was evident during the Swedish game, too. And with the Finns sporting a number of solid players on their back end, not finding a way to get going offensively is going to mean an early and embarrassing exit for Canada from this tournament.
And yes, it's that dire. Canada has to win in regulation in order to get a shot at the Americans on Thursday. If they can't get it done in regulation but still win, there's a really gross scenario that sees them still out: If the USA loses to Sweden in regulation. I know you're thinking "There's no way they'd do that, right?" Yeah. The team that literally plotted to start a hockey game with three straight fights, wouldn't be above ensuring they don't have to face the one team that could possibly keep them from winning it all. If you haven't figured out assuming America will do the worst possible thing as they safest bet, I don't know what else to tell you.
And how about that WWE-worthy heel turn by J.T. Miller. To go from having your name chanted at home, to literally outing yourself as a fascist seems a little unbelievable from a written standpoint, but here we are.
Anyway, the (hopefully) good news is that we could see Cale Makar back in the lineup. And while Thomas Harley was outstanding coming into the lineup to replace Shea Theodore, it was rather evident that the Canadians were missing their top defenceman. If Makar is able to go, Harley is still able to stay in the lineup though, and I would not be surprised at all if that's how it ends up.
LINEUPS
Courtesy of that nhl dot com thingy...
1 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, SN, TVAS
Canada projected lineup
Sidney Crosby -- Connor McDavid -- Mark Stone
Sam Reinhart -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand -- Sam Bennett -- Travis Konecny
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brayden Point
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey -- Colton Parayko
Travis Sanheim -- Drew Doughty
Jordan Binnington
Adin Hill
Scratched: Seth Jarvis, Thomas Harley, Sam Montembeault
Injured: Shea Theodore (upper body)
Finland projected lineup
Kaapo Kakko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Mikko Rantanen
Sebastian Aho -- Roope Hintz -- Patrik Laine
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Mikael Granlund
Artturi Lehkonen -- Erik Haula -- Joel Armia
Niko Mikkola -- Esa Lindell
Olli Maatta -- Henri Jokiharju
Urho Vaakanainen -- Nikolas Matinpalo
Kevin Lankinen
Juuse Saros
Scratched: Juuso Valimaki, Teuvo Teravainen, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injured: None
I'm trying to stay calm here, but I am gonna lose my shit if Binnington is in for another game. Logan Thompson not being named to the team was infuriating enough, but the way Binnington has played makes you wonder if the Canadian born MAGA supporter is working as a double agent.
And while we were thrilled to see Kevin Lankinen make the most of his shot against Sweden after Juuse Saros was lit up against the Americans, we would very much like Kevin to have a poor performance today, thank you. Nothing personal, we love him a lot, but we'd love him even more if just wasn't very good this afternoon.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Another great Canadian tune, this time from Vancouver's own ANCIIENTS. This one is off their Juno nominated album 'Beyond The Reach Of The Sun', available on Season Of Mist Records, here's 'Melt The Crown'.
