The first two games of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off included one that was close until the end — Canada’s 4-3 OT win over Sweden — and one that was close through 37 minutes — the United States’ 6-1 rout of Finland.

A super Saturday doubleheader is on the way, including the most anticipated rivalry matchups: Sweden-Finland (1 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+) and U.S.-Canada (8 p.m., ABC/ESPN+/Disney+).

Before we dive into the preview, here’s an updated look at the round-robin standings. The top two teams after the round-robin will face off in the final Thursday:

Who are the key players and matchups to watch? What are the most important statistics heading into this contest? Read on for all of that, courtesy of ESPN Research and Stathletes, plus betting intel courtesy of ESPN BET, and picks on the game from Sean Allen.

Sweden vs.

Finland

Saturday, 1 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+
Bell Centre (Montreal)

Betting intel

Money line: SWE -210 | Finland +175
Game spread: SWE -1.5 (+130) | Finland +1.5 (-155)
Total goals: Over 5.5 (-105) | Under 5.5 (-115)

Sweden

• Erik Karlsson leads all players with five blocked shots. His most in an NHL game this season is five, Dec. 29 vs. the New York Islanders.

• Mika Zibanejad was the only Swedish skater to be over 50% on faceoffs (57%, 13-of-23). The 13 faceoffs won are the second most, behind Finland’s Aleksander Barkov (15).

• While they did combine for the goal that tied the game 3-3, Sweden was down 15-9 in shot attempts and 8-4 in shots on goal at 5-on-5 when Joel Eriksson Ek, Jesper Bratt and Lucas Raymond were on the ice together, per Stathletes.

• Swedish defenders had 26 passes that led to shot attempts, according to Stathletes, including three defensemen with at least six: Victor Hedman (7), Karlsson (7) and Gustav Forsling (6).

Finland

• Captain Aleksander Barkov led Finland with five shots on goal, the second most in the game behind Matthew Tkachuk’s eight. Barkov has had three NHL games this season with five or more shots, but in two of those games he also scored a goal.

• Three of Finland’s top four NHL goal scorers this season failed to record a shot on goal: Mikko Rantanen: 26 NHL goals (zero shots on goal), Artturi Lehkonen: 23 NHL goals (four shots on goal), Roope Hintz: 22 NHL goals (zero shots on goal), Sebastian Aho: 20 NHL goals (zero shots on goal).

• Though Rantanen did not record a shot on goal, he was tied for the most passes leading to a shot with Auston Matthews (7).

• Juuse Saros allowed six goals, which is tied with the most he gave up in an NHL game this season (done twice prior), including his last start before the break against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 7. Kevin Lankinen will start against Sweden.

Picks for the game

Neither of these teams were a pushover in their opening losses of the tournament.

For Sweden, the line of Filip Forsberg, Adrian Kempe and Elias Pettersson did the best job of tilting the ice in their favor, managing 12 shot attempts and a goal in 8:39 at 5-on-5 against Canada, while only allowing seven shot attempts against.

Adrian Kempe to record 4-plus shots on goal (+145): Kempe fired five against Canada and should get plenty of chances to pepper Kevin Lankinen.

Esa Lindell anytime point scorer (+260): Wait. Hear me out. The Finns tried all-forward power-play units at both 4-on-3 and 5-on-4 for a total of 2:32 seconds with just two total shots on goal. They might consider squeezing a defenseman onto the top unit for a more traditional look, even if they don’t have a great candidate. The second unit with Lindell on the point played just over a minute against the Americans and generated two shots on goal and six shot attempts. — Sean Allen

United States vs.

Canada

Saturday, 8 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+
Bell Centre (Montreal)

Betting intel

Money line: USA -110 | Canada -110
Game spread: USA +1.5 (-325) | Canada -1.5 (+220)
Total goals: Over 6.5 (+105) | Under 6.5 (-125)

United States

• The Tkachuk brothers were the stars of the show Thursday. Brady Tkachuk had five slot shot attempts, the most of any player in the tournament; four scoring chance shot attempts, tied for the most of any player (Matthew Tkachuk, Nathan MacKinnon); and five scoring chances created with shots and passes, tied for second (MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Cale Makar)

• Matthew Tkachuk had four slot shot attempts, tied for second in the tournament (MacKinnon, Mark Stone); four scoring chance shot attempts, tied for the most (Brady Tkachuk, MacKinnon); and six scoring chances created with shots and passes, the most in the tournament.

• The U.S. led all teams in slot shot attempts (23) and scoring chances (20), per Stathletes. The team ranks second in total shot attempts with 58, behind Sweden (69).

• Team USA was credited with 32 hits, which led all teams through the first game. That was 11 more than the next-closest team (Sweden, 21). Brady Tkachuk led all players through the opening games with eight hits, matching his NHL season high (Nov. 9 vs. the Boston Bruins).

Canada

• Canada has won 26 straight games with Sidney Crosby in the lineup. The streak consists of the last four games of the 2010 Olympics, all six games of the 2014 Olympics, all nine games he played in 2015 IIHF World Championship (he sat out the last preliminary-round game), all six games at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the first game of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.

• Nathan MacKinnon led all players in the game against Sweden with six shots on goal. He is the NHL leader in games having six or more shots on goal with 13, which is one more than USA’s Zach Werenski, USA’s Jack Hughes and David Pastrnak.

• Brad Marchand‘s goal was his sixth in NHL international competitions (Canada Cup, World Cup of Hockey), the most among active players.

• Per Stathletes, every Canadian forward created at least one scoring chance (either by pass or shot) except Anthony Cirelli and Travis Konecny. Konecny is being replaced in the lineup by Sam Bennett for the game against the U.S.

• Connor McDavid had 72 puck touches, according to Stathletes, 16 more than the next-highest Canadian forward (Mitch Marner).

Picks for the game

The Americans made a couple of line changes late in the game that made a world of difference. First, they realized, ‘Hey, aren’t those two brothers?’ and finally put the Tkachuks on a line together. Brady and Matthew, along with Jack Eichel, dominated with 13 shot attempts in 6:03 at five-on-five.

Zach Werenski anytime point scorer (+110). Second, they swapped out Adam Fox and installed Werenski on the top power-play unit. With Fox, the group that also included Auston Matthews, Eichel, Jake Guentzel and Matthew Tkachuk managed just one shot on goal and three shot attempts in 2:55. With Werenski, they scored two goals on six shot attempts in just 1:15.

Canada’s power play was as dangerous as expected, but after William Nylander took an early high-sticking infraction, Sweden stayed out of the box for the rest of the game. The result was only 12 seconds of power-play time, because that’s how long the unit of Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar needed to fire one shot on goal and score.

At 5-on-5, the line of Reinhart, McDavid and Mitch Marner was the only one of Canada’s lines that managed to have a positive result in the shot attempts battle, with the other three allowing equal or more shot attempts against them.

Sam Reinhart anytime goal scorer (+230): This game feels like it’s going to have more penalties. There are a lot of emotions coming into the contest, and we’ll get to see more than 12 seconds of this elite Canadian power play. So why not go right back to the same well and expect the player in front of the net to bank one in?