Here are three keys to the game:
1. Finnishing touch
Finland had 21 shots on goal in the loss to the United States. The Finns feel they passed up on some opportunities to test U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck. They don't want to have the same problem against Gustavsson and the Swedes.
The forward line featuring Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz and Patrik Laine had as many shot attempts as giveaways (seven). Laine was the only one of the three to get a shot on goal.
Aho also lost nine of 14 face-offs.
"Especially Aho, that breakout, 2-on-1 situation, he had a chance to shoot, and he knows that," Finland coach Antti Pennanen said. "But, overall, our breakouts were not that good, so we need to improve those and, of course, take more shots."
Forward Mikko Rantanen also said turnovers were a problem for the Finns, but he agreed they need to have a more aggressive approach to shooting the puck.
"Maybe we were overpassing it," Rantanen said. "Obviously, things in a game happen quick and if you execute, they're probably in the back of the net, so it's always easy after to say you should have shot when you tried to make a play in that moment. But it's better for us if we simplify a little bit offensively, try to get pucks to the net more and crash the net more."
2. Start on time
Finland had a good start against the United States after jumping to a 1-0 lead on Henri Jokiharju's goal at 7:31 of the first period.
The same was not the case for Sweden against Canada. It can't happen again.
The Swedes were down 1-0 on Nathan MacKinnon's power-play goal 56 seconds into the first period. Canada needed 12 seconds and one shot on the power play to cash in with William Nylander in the box for high-sticking MacKinnon.
It was 2-0 at 13:15, when Brad Marchand scored on a 2-on-1 with Brayden Point.
Hedman joked that the pregame on-ice ceremony featuring Mario Lemieux might have gotten to the Swedes. Nylander's penalty definitely did.
"Keep Mario off the ice and don't take a penalty," Hedman said.
Kidding aside, a strong start for the Swedes could plant a seed of doubt into the Finns, putting more pressure on the team that knows a regulation loss will eliminate it from championship contention.
"We've got to try to play more together than we did (Thursday) if we want to beat Sweden," Rantanen said.
3. Lankinen's turn
Finland is turning to Lankinen to try to stay alive in the tournament. He arguably should have been the goalie they turned to against the United States too, considering the season he's having with the Vancouver Canucks compared to how Saros has played for the Nashville Predators.
Lankinen is 19-8-7 with four shutouts, a 2.53 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 34 games (32 starts) this season.
Prior to the break for the tournament, Saros was 0-5-0 with a 4.43 GAA and .862 save percentage in six starts with Nashville since Jan. 21. He is 11-23-6 with 2.95 GAA, .899 save percentage and four shutouts in 41 games (all starts) this season.
"Obviously, (Lankinen) has always been a good goalie and now I feel like he's playing with high confidence in Vancouver, which is nice to see," Rantanen said. "I'm happy for him. He's almost battling there to be the starting goalie with (Thatcher) Demko there, so it tells how well he's playing."
