Team Canada set for Team Russia in semifinal

TEAM CANADA VS. TEAM RUSSIA
Air Canada Centre, Toronto
7 p.m. ET (ESPN, CBC, TVA, TVA Sports

What's at Stake:

Team Canada and Team Russia renew a rivalry that dates back to the 1972 Summit Series. The winner will advance to the World Cup of 2016 final against the winner of the semifinal between Team Sweden and Team Europe on Sunday. Team Canada defeated Team Russia 3-2 in overtime in a pretournament game Sept. 14 at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The last time the teams played in a best-against-best tournament was the quarterfinals of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which Canada won 7-3. That avenged a 2-0 loss to Russia in the quarterfinals of the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Team Canada:

Team Canada was dominant in the preliminary round, going 3-0-0 and outscoring its opponents 14-3 to finish in first place in Group A. It led for 161:28 and trailed for 1:29 in those three games. "Even if you're up in games you're never comfortable," center Johnathan Toews said. "You're never feeling like you have it in the bag and we don't want to go forward thinking we're too good either because that's the first thought that's going to cause a huge problem." Toews (three goals, one assist), Sidney Crosby (two goals, two assists) and Matt Duchene (two goals, two assists) share the scoring lead with four points each. Team Canada's depth and scoring balance is best shown with the fact that 16 of its 20 skaters have at least one point. Defenseman Shea Weber and center Ryan Getzlaf will play after sitting out the final preliminary-round game against Team Europe. Carey Price will start in goal. He made 61 saves on 63 shots in his two preliminary-round games. They were his first games of consequence since he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee Nov. 25, 2015. Team Canada is 2-for-10 on the power play and 10-for-10 on the penalty kill.

Team Russia:

A 2-1 loss to Team Sweden in its World Cup opener put Team Russia on its heels and forced it to win its next two games, against Team North America (4-3) and Team Finland (3-0), to reach the semifinals. Having survived those must-win situations has boosted Team Russia's confidence heading into the semifinals. But it must be even better to defeat Team Canada. "For sure Canada has a good team, both defensively and the goalie too," right wing Evgeny Dadonov said. "We just need to play our game, give everything on the ice and play 100 percent." Center Pavel Datsyuk will be a game-time decision because of a lower-body injury that kept him out of the game against Team Finland on Thursday. Evgeny Kuznetsov moved up to take Datsyuk's spot on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Vladimir Tarasenko on Thursday. Ovechkin (one goal, two assists) had a point in all three preliminary-round games to lead Team Russia with three points. Tarasenko had two game-winning goals. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who has made 91 saves on 96 shots in three games, will get his fourth consecutive start. Team Russia is 0-for-8 on the power play and 11-for-13 on the penalty kill.

Keep Your Eye On:

The first period: Team Canada outscored opponents 8-1 in the first period in the preliminary round and Team Russia has yet to score a first-period goal. In fact, five of Team Russia's six goals have been in the second period. In its 7-3 quarterfinal defeat of Russia in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Canada led 4-1 after the first period and 6-1 by 4:07 of the second.

They Said It:

"I feel like whatever day it is, whatever time it is, [this] would be a game that everyone would want to tune in for. I think you appreciate that opportunity, being a hockey player playing for Team Canada, regardless of the day or where. You know you have that support. It's special it's here in Canada. It's an opportunity and we have to do something with it." -- Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby
Here are the projected lineups:
TEAM CANADA
Brad Marchand - Sidney Crosby - Patrice Bergeron
John Tavares - Ryan Getzlaf - Steven Stamkos
Logan Couture - Jonathan Toews - Corey Perry
Joe Thornton - Ryan O'Reilly - Matt Duchene
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Shea Weber
Jay Bouwmeester - Drew Doughty
Alex Pietrangelo - Brent Burns
Carey Price
Corey Crawford
TEAM RUSSIA
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Vladimir Tarasenko
Artemi Panarin - Evgeni Malkin - Nikolay Kulemin
Vladislav Namestnikov - Artem Anisimov - Nikita Kucherov
Ivan Telegin - Vadim Shipachyov - Evgeny Dadonov
Dmitry Orlov - Nikita Zaitsev
Andrei Markov - Alexei Emelin
Dmitry Kulikov - Alexey Marchenko
Sergei Bobrovsky
Semyon Varlamov
Injured: Pavel Datsyuk (lower body)
Scratched: Nikita Nesterov, Andrei Vasilevskiy