With the results Sunday, the final four preliminary round games of the IIHF 2013 World Junior Championship on Monday all have an impact on what the medal-round field will look like.

Victories by Canada and Finland in the early games Sunday, coupled with later wins by the Czech Republic and Latvia, have crystallized the qualification picture heading into the New Year's Eve games in Ufa, Russia.

In Group B, Canada held off the United States in a much-anticipated showdown and Slovakia outlasted upset-minded Germany, winning 2-1 in OT.

In Group A, Finland erased two two-goal deficits against Switzerland to claim a 5-4 victory in a shootout in the early game. In the nightcap, the Czechs defeated Latvia to severely jumble the group's qualification picture.

In its third game of the World Junior Championship, the United States lost 2-1 to Canada. That gives them a 1-2 mark in Group B Pool play with a huge game Monday against the Slovaks that will determine the Americans' fate in the 2013 WJC. The Americans never led in the game Sunday and have not held the lead in their past two games since an 8-0 tournament-opening rout of Germany.

NHL Network Analyst Dave Starman, who was the game analyst for the past four WJC's for NHL Network, takes a look at this recent USA-Canada clash. He has called five of these North American rivalry games at the WJC and saw some things different from recent games.

What Happened: I think a couple of things. The first is that the United States never had any consistent middle-lane drive to cause Canada's defense to engage from a bad position. The second is that the ability of the Americans to chance of the rush was consistently hampered by Canada's attention to detail on the back check. Transition from offense to defense is vital and backchecking through the middle is its biggest component. Canada did both well and, in essence, eliminated the American defense from being a big factor as a second wave.

Goalies were the story here. John Gibson deserved a better fate and was probably the best player on the ice for the United States. Of the two goals he gave up, one was an NHL-style goal, a high, hard wrister from a prime scoring area off a quick release by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The other was a back-door tip of a jam play from behind. Malcom Subban allowed his first third-period goal of the tourney on a power-play goal by Jacob Trouba, who has been the best American defenseman in the tourney for the second straight year. He has goals in all three games of this tournament.

It was the kind of effort Malcolm Subban was hoping for on the biggest stage of his international career for the Canadian National Junior Team at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia.

With all eyes squarely on Subban entering his Group B showdown against the United States on Sunday at Ufa Arena, the the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Boston Bruins prospect turned in his best performance on the way to a 2-1 victory. Subban made 36 saves.

"Coming in, I felt really good and I just wanted to have a really good game," Subban told TSN. "I felt really confident, so that helped a lot."

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan Strome connected for first-period goals to provide all the scoring Canada needed in support. Subban, sporting an unspectacular 3.00 goals-against average and .892 save percentage in victories over Germany and Slovakia, was flawless throughout and was named Canada's player of the game.

"It's a lot easier to get up for these games than the first two," Subban said.

The players and coaches of the U.S. National Junior Team know the perfect tonic for overcoming a heartbreaking loss to Russia: a victory over archrival Canada.

Watch WJC on NHL Network-US

Sunday's clash between the U.S. and Canada will be aired on NHLN-US and NHL.com at 4:30 a.m. ET.

• Tkachyov, Makarov lead Russia over U.S., 2-1
• CAN rallies to defeat SVK; two players ejected
• Full NHLN-US, NHL.com WJC broadcast schedule

MORE 2013 WJC STORIES ›2013 WJC BLOG ›

The United States will get that chance Sunday when the hockey powers collide in their third game of Group B action in Ufa, Russia. A victory would certainly go a long way for the third-place Americans, who trail Russia by two points and Canada by three in the standings. A victory would catapult the United States into a tie with the Canadians while a loss would officially end any hope at earning a first-round bye in the medal round.

"They're a dangerous team, so one of the biggest things is we don't want to give them too much space," U.S. forward J.T. Miller told NHL.com of Canada. "Like any other team in this tournament, they have a bunch of big names, but other than that, we're not too worried about it."

The United States has posted a 5-1-3-26-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) record against Canada in 38 meetings in the WJC. Canada has won eight of the past nine meetings, including a 3-2 preliminary-round matchup at last year's tournament. The U.S. team last celebrated a victory over Canada on Jan. 5, 2010 -- a 6-5 overtime decision in the gold medal game.

Both teams should be well-rested because each has a day off before facing off at Ufa Arena on Sunday at 4:30 a.m. ET (NHLN-US).

In its second game of the World Junior Championship, the United States dropped a 2-1 decision to host Russia in Group B pool play Friday. The Americans never led in the game and lost on a rebound goal by Vladimir Tkachyov at 4:10 of the third period.

The Americans are 1-1 and have three points as they wait to play Canada on Sunday. The Russians have five points from two games and play Germany on Saturday.

NHL Network analyst Dave Starman checks in with his look at the game from the viewpoint of Team USA. He will do so after each game played by the United States in the tournament.

What Happened: In the first meeting between the United States and Russia since the 2008 World Junior Championship, Russia scored a crucial go-ahead goal off an end-to-end rush to take a 2-1 lead. The United States played better than the one-goal loss might indicate, with the difference in the game being Russian goalie Andrei Makarov. Like he did against Canada last year in the semifinals, Makarov bailed out teammates who were careless with the puck in the final 40 minutes of the game. The Russians were terrific on a late penalty kill as they played the final 90 seconds down a man. In the last minute, the Americans pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage. Early penalty trouble hurt the United States and prevented them from getting any momentum or rhythm. More importantly, while shorthanded, a good chunk of American players didn't see the minutes they needed to get into an early flow.

Vladimir Tkachyov was only doing what all good goal-scorers are taught at a young age: keep your head up and go for the rebound.

Tkachyov was Johnny-on-the-spot when he knocked in a loose puck from the slot 4:10 into the third period to give Russia a 2-1 victory over the United States on Friday in Group B action at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia.

Tkachyov's goal stood as the winner thanks to the superb play of Russian goalie Andrei Makarov. In his first start of the tournament, Makarov made 15 of his 41 saves in the third period en route to being named Russia's player of the game.

The Canadian National Junior Team rallied from a two-goal deficit despite having two players ejected from the game en route to a 6-3 victory over Slovakia on Friday at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia.

After spotting the Slovaks a 3-1 lead when Marko Dano scored his second of the game at the 10:35 mark of the second, Canada connected for five straight goals. Mark Scheifele's deflection with 59 seconds remaining in the second gave Canada its first lead, 4-3. Scheifele, a first-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 2011, was named Canada's player of the game.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan Strome, who connected for a pair of goals in the game, completed the scoring in the third. Defenseman Morgan Rielly finished with a goal and two assists for Canada.

NHL Network analyst Dave Starman has covered each of the past four World Junior Championship tournaments. He also spends a tremendous amount of time broadcasting and scouting college and junior hockey games across North America. As a result, he is intimately familiar with many of the players who are competing for gold during the next two weeks in Ufa, Russia. Throughout the WJC, Starman will weigh in with his thoughts and analysis, focusing his attention heavily on the fate of the Americans. These are his thoughts on the United States following an 8-0 win against Germany on Thursday. The U.S. faces Russia on Friday.

The United States beat Germany convincingly on Thursday, and it reminded me of a couple of past big victories by the Americans. With Russia coming up next on Friday (9 a.m. ET, NHLN-US, TSN), forgetting this game ever happened probably would be a good thing if history is any indicator.

In 2009, the United States beat Kazakhstan handily. The next game it lost to Canada, 8-5. In 2012, the Americans beat Denmark 11-3 in Edmonton to open the tourney and then lost to Finland 4-1 the next time out.

After missing almost an entire season of hockey, Alex Galchenyuk is doing his best to make up for lost time.

The 18-year-old forward had a dominating performance in his first World Junior Championship game, scoring a goal and adding two assists as the United States defeated Germany 8-0 on Thursday in its tournament opener.

The United States got goals from eight players, but the top line of Sean Kuraly centering Galchenyuk and Riley Barber combined for three goals and five assists. However, it was Galchenyuk, the third pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, who was recognized as the game's best player.

NHL Network analyst Dave Starman has covered each of the past four World Junior Championship tournaments. He also spends a tremendous amount of time broadcasting and scouting college and junior hockey games across North America. As a result, he is intimately familiar with many of the players who are competing for gold during the next two weeks in Ufa, Russia. Throughout the WJC, Starman will weigh in with his thoughts and analysis, focusing his attention heavily on the fate of the Americans. These are his thoughts on the United States before their tournament begins.

The World Junior Championship is full of great hockey and tremendous drama.

Living full-time in the world of amateur hockey (college/junior), I see most of Team USA's guys on a regular basis, and they have a good team.  It isn't as star-studded as some recent entries, but the best team doesn't always win this thing.

Short tourneys are based on four things to watch.