Needing a regulation win over Finland to advance to the World Cup semifinals, Team Russia will be without Pavel Datsyuk this afternoon in Toronto.
Datsyuk is reportedly out with a “small,” lower-body injury. The 38-year-old center logged 18:57 of ice time in Monday’s 4-3 victory over Team North America.
In that same game, Connor McDavid was able to skate around Datysuk in the neutral zone, on the way to setting up Auston Matthews for a highlight-reel goal. It’s possible that Datsyuk’s injury could have been a contributing factor there.
Vadim Shipachyov will enter the lineup for Russia today.
My guess is Kuznetsov will go back to the top line with Ovechkin with Datsyuk (lower body) out.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) September 22, 2016
Related: Russia must beat Finland to advance