The 4 Nations Face-Off will turn out be a two-horse race, according to NHL.com writers and editors.
Of the 13 NHL.com staffers who made their predictions for the best-on-best international tournament that begins Tuesday in Montreal, five picked Canada to win it all, six picked the United States to come out on top, while Finland and Sweden got one pick each.
Of the five who picked Canada to win it all, four said it will defeat the United States in the championship game in Boston on Feb. 12. Of the six who picked the U.S., five said it will top Canada in the final. One staffer predicted that Canada would defeat Sweden in the final, while one other picked the U.S. to best Sweden.
As for the other two staffers, one picked Finland to top the U.S. in the final game while another picked Sweden to defeat Canada.
The format of the 4 Nations Face-Off will see each of the four teams play each other once in a round-robin, starting with Canada playing Sweden at Bell Centre in Montreal on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). The U.S. and Finland play in Montreal on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
After each team has played three games, the top two teams will face off at TD Garden in Boston for the 4 Nations title on Feb. 20 (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
