2014 Olympics Hockey: USA Lines vs. Finland – Bronze-Medal Game

The U.S. has to quickly regroup after a sobering loss to Canada in the semifinals. A medal is still on the line and going home with nothing only makes that loss to Canada look worse. The U.S. and Finland will square off at 10 a.m. ET on NBC Sports Network with a live stream on NBCOlympics.com.

2014CrestDan Bylsma is sticking with the same lineup as he had against Canada and Jonathan Quick will have a chance to close out a rather remarkable performance at the Olympics.

Team USA needs to get up for this game because Finland should be bringing it. They won bronze in 2010 and have medaled in all but one of the past five Olympics. The Finns will get Tuukka Rask back after he missed the semifinal with the flu, so goals are probably going to be hard to come by again.

A longer look at today’s game is available here.

The U.S. will be in the blue jerseys today.

Here’s Team USA’s lineup for today’s game against Finland.

Dustin Brown – David Backes – Ryan Callahan
Zach Parise – Ryan Kesler – Patrick Kane
James van Riemsdyk – Joe Pavelski – Phil Kessel
Max Pacioretty – Paul Stastny – T.J. Oshie
Blake Wheeler

Cam Fowler – Kevin Shattenkirk
Brooks Orpik – John Carlson
Ryan Suter – Ryan McDonagh
Justin Faulk

Jonathan Quick
Ryan Miller

Scratched: Jimmy Howard, Derek Stepan, Paul Martin

– The U.S. seeks its first overseas medal since 1972 and first back-to-back medals since 1956-60. That’s a big deal, even if the color of the medal is not the desired one.

– Team USA needs jump out of the gates and it should be evident pretty quickly how engaged they are in this game. If they’re not competing, it’s going to lead to a bad result.

– The guys that got less ice against Canada should get more in this one to keep everyone fresh. Also, you might get a little more jump out of those guys.

– Finland employs a very stingy trap-style defense with all five players engaged. That combined with Rask in net makes scoring rather difficult. The U.S. needs to find some creativity and use that immense speed to keep Finland on its heels. Avoiding penalties will also be key as Finland relies on its power play in these tight games.

Stick close to United States of Hockey for post-Olympics wrap ups in the coming days and thanks for following along with the coverage throughout Sochi. It’s been a lot of fun on my end and I hope you enjoyed the coverage here.

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About Chris Peters

Editor of The United States of Hockey. Contributor to CBSSports.com, USA Hockey Magazine and more. Former USA Hockey PR guy. Current Iowan.
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