Friday, February 26, 2010
USA / Finland: Tale of the Tape
Overall Scoring
| Brian Rafalski | 4 | Goals | 3 | Niklas Hagman |
| 3 Tied | 2 | Goals | 2 | 3 Tied |
| Ryan Suter | 4 | Assists | 3 | Mikko Koivu |
| Zach Parise | 3 | Assists | 2 | 4 Tied |
| Brian Rafalski | 6 | Points | 5 | Niklas Hagman |
| Zach Parise | 4 | Points | 4 | Mikko Koivu |
| Ryan Suter | 4 | Points | 2 | 9 Tied |
So as you can see by the numbers, in a short tourney, anything can happen. Suomi has only a single player in the top 25 in scoring, the USA has 3. Though the Fins do have 11 guys with over 2 points, the Americans have 10, so it's definitely a balanced attack.
Both teams also feature a couple guys that should be putting up far better numbers than they have up to this point; America needs Patrick Kane (1 point), Bobby Ryan (2) and Phil Kessel (2) to elevate their games, while I'm sure Finland would love to see more production out of Olli Jokinen, Teemu Selanne, and Saku Koiku, all of whom are sitting at 2 points.
Team Defense
| United States | Finland | |
| 5 | Goals Against | 4 |
| 1 (SUI) | Shut Outs | 2 (GER, CZE) |
| 20 | PIMS | 47 |
To be fair, Joni Pitkanen received an epic 27 minutes against Sweden for a facial delivered to Patric Hornqvist, so subtract that, and both teams have taken a similar amount of penalty time.
Also note that the Fins shutout against Germany was tended by Niklas Backstrom, where as the Starters shut outs have come in the Quarterfinals by scores of 2-0. Speaking of...
The Goalies
| Ryan Miller | Miikka Kiprusoff | |
| 4-0-0 | Record | 3-0-0 |
| 5 | Goals Against | 4 |
| 1.25 | GAA | 1.33 |
| 90 | Shots Against | 75 |
| 5 | Save % | 4 |
| 1 (SUI) | Shut Outs | 1 (CZE) |
| 2/1 | PPGA/SHGA | 2/0 |
Christ this game is even. How can you not be excited? This game very well could come down to how the role players for each squad perform. To this point, I'd have to say the Americans 3rd/4th liners have performed better, but this is the Olympics, anything could happen.
My prediction? 3-1 USA. Empty netter by Chris Drury seals the deal. Patrick Kane and Ryan Kesler with the others, Tuomo Ruutu for Suomi.
USA! USA! USA!
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