3 Keys: Canada vs. Sweden, 4 Nations Face-Off

Here are three keys to the game:

1. Binnington's chance

Canada's goaltending was one of the biggest storylines coming into the tournament, with the two questions being who will start and will whoever it is be good enough?

The storyline won't go away unless Binnington has a big performance against Sweden.

Binnington has a pedigree in big games. He won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues when he made 32 saves for a 4-1 victory against the Boston Bruins on the road in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. He played eight games at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, going 6-2 with a 2.81 goals-against average and .885 save percentage for fourth-place Canada.

Earlier this season, he started a 6-2 win for the Blues against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Discover NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on Dec. 31 and made 28 saves.

"He's a confident kid and he wants to be in that spot," Cooper said. "Jordan's been our guy. That kid's got fire in the belly. He's a competitor and we're really confident in him."

2. Chemistry is king

Cooper and Hallam have put together lines and defense pairs to fit their systems, but now they're hoping they work. They will have to give it time to gel, but time is limited in a short tournament. So if the coaches don't see what they want to see from their lines in the first period, it's possible there could be changes before the start of the second.

"I hope we got it right and that's it and we don't have to change, but I anticipate that probably won't be the case," Cooper said. "Even your own NHL teams sometimes you change lines just because the momentum in the game needs to be swung or you feel in your gut is telling you to do this.

"In a short tournament you also have to give them some leash. You can't cut them off at the knees two shifts in, so there's going to be some balance here to see how the game is going."

3. Start fast, play fast

Both teams said they expect the game to be fast right from the drop of the puck for fear of what will happen if they try to wade their way into the tournament.

"I don't think there is any waiting around," Zibanejad said. "I don't think we have time for it. I don't think they have time for it. I'm expecting a high tempo from the start."

Cooper said the past few days have felt like it did in the bubble during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when players were mingling with each other off the ice because they all were staying in the same hotels.

But like what happened there, he expects the competition here to ramp up right away.

"I fully expect it to be as competitive as any international tournament," Cooper said. "The difference is we're all together right now. Teams are sharing hotels, so you're running into different situations like that.

"It's exactly how the bubble was. Everybody was together. Everybody was having fun and conversing, but when those games started it was a war. The only thing that was crazy was there was no fans and after one period you never noticed it anyway because of how competitive it was on the ice. I think this will be the same way."