MONTREAL -- Much of the focus at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship has been the showdown between the top two prospects for the 2015 NHL Draft, Connor McDavid of Canada and Jack Eichel of the United States.

The two will go head to head on New Year's Eve when Canada and the U.S. complete preliminary-round play in a showdown between the two top teams of Group A at Bell Centre (4 p.m. ET, NHLN-US, NHL.com).

However, flying well below that radar is the arrival on the big stage of two of the top prospects for the 2016 draft.

Forwards Auston Matthews of the United States and Jesse Puljujarvi of Finland have not looked the least bit out of place in a tournament that is generally unkind to players who are so far from their draft year.

MONTREAL -- Canada and the United States each has heard its anthem played and had its flag raised following three successive victories at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Only one team will make it four straight on New Year's Eve when the North American rivals play Wednesday for top honors in Group A in the most anticipated match of preliminary-round play of the tournament at Bell Centre in Montreal (4 p.m. ET, NHLN-US, NHL.com).

Canada is the top seed in Group A with three regulation victories and nine points. The United States, with two regulation wins and one shootout win for eight points is second, but a win of any kind Wednesday would allow them to pass Canada for first place.

The winner and top seed in Group A will play a quarterfinal-round game against the fourth place team in Group B on Friday. The loser will earn the second seed and play the third-seeded team from Group B on Friday.

MONTREAL -- Canada coach Benoit Groulx has done a fair amount of line-juggling thus far at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship, but there is one line he has not had to touch since the start of selection camp in Toronto early this month.

That line has given him no reason to intervene, and doesn't look as though it is about to.

Linemates Sam Reinhart, Anthony Duclair and Max Domi had two points apiece and Zach Fucale made 27 saves to lead Canada to a 4-1 win against Finland on Monday in preliminary-round play.

MONTREAL -- The United States made it clear it wanted a showdown of undefeated Group A teams when it plays Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Goalie Thatcher Demko made 17 saves for his first shutout, and forwards Sonny Milano, Dylan Larkin and John Hayden scored to lead the United States to a 3-0 win against Slovakia at Bell Centre on Monday.

The United States (2-1-0-0) has won its first three WJC games in six of the past eight years, including last year in Malmo, Sweden.

On Wednesday, the United States plays Canada (3-0-0-0), which defeated defending champion Finland 4-1 later Monday.

David Pastrnak scored 1:01 into overtime to give the Czech Republic a 4-3 win against Denmark in a preliminary-round game at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Champion Championship at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Monday.

Pastrnak (Boston Bruins) also had two assists.

The Czech Republic tied the game 3-3 with 3:02 remaining in the third period on a goal by forward Dominik Kubalik (Los Angeles Kings).

MONTREAL -- Jack Eichel and the United States served notice Sunday that they are a force to be reckoned with at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Eichel, who is a top-two prospect for the 2015 NHL Draft, scored his first goal on a wraparound in the third, and Dylan Larkin had two goals and an assist to lead the U.S. to a 6-0 win against Germany at Bell Centre on Sunday.

Auston Matthews, Hudson Fasching and Sonny Milano also scored for the U.S., which remained undefeated at 1-1-0-0. Brandon Halverson (New York Rangers) made 14 saves.

The U.S. dominated play throughout the game, outshooting Germany 53-14, including a 22-5 advantage in the first period. Ilja Sharipov made 47 saves for Germany (0-0-0-2), which lost 4-0 against Canada on Saturday, and was named Germany's player of the game.

Goaltender Igor Shestyorkin made 32 saves to help Russia to a 7-0 shutout win against Switzerland at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday in a preliminary-round game of the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Russia (1-1-0-0) moved into second place with five points in Group B and trails Sweden by one point. Switzerland (1-0-0-1) dropped to third place in the group.

Shestyorkin (New York Rangers) was impressive in his first start of the tournament, holding his ground when Russia was outshot 14-4 in the second period.

Russian forward Pavel Buchnevich (Rangers) had one goal and two assists. Forwards Ivan Barbashev (St. Louis Blues) and Vladislav Kamenev (Nashville Predators) each had two points.

"It was a pretty tough game for us," Barbashev said, according to the IIHF website. "In the first period, we played really well. In the second period, we let up and took too many penalties, but we did a good job on penalty-killing. In the third, we played like in the first."

MONTREAL -- Max Domi is putting into practice for Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship advice he got as a youngster from family friends Mario Lemieux and Mats Sundin to shoot the puck whenever the opportunity is there.

Domi (Arizona Coyotes), the son of Tie Domi, scored for a second straight game at Bell Centre on Saturday and Canada recorded its second shutout win in two days with a 4-0 victory against Germany.

There really wasn't any question about him shooting when he put Canada up by three at 9:14 of the third period; the 19-year-old forward joyfully stuck out his tongue to celebrate after he scored on a back-door tap in off a no-look backhand pass from Sam Reinhart (Buffalo Sabres).

Captain Jacob de la Rose had one goal and two assists Saturday to lead Sweden to a 5-1 win against Denmark at Air Canada Centre in a Group B preliminary-round game of the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

In the second Group B game, Switzerland scored three times in the second period and beat the Czech Republic 5-2.

De la Rose (Montreal Canadiens) scored 13 seconds into the second period to give Sweden (2-0-0-0) a commanding 4-0 lead.

With the win, Sweden (2-0-0-0) leads Group B with six points. Denmark (0-0-1-1) is third with one point.