World Junior 2015: Team Canada must adapt to Finland's 'east-west game'

MONTREAL — While the revenge angle is enticing, Team Canada's tilt vs. Finland comes down to cracking the Young Lions' labryinth in the neutral zone.

Canada, which has had goals from 10 players across its two shutout wins, will be facing a Finland team that thus far has played the stereotypically passive defensive style peculiar to international hockey. While the Finns have dropped a pair of a 2-1 decisions in Group A, its style has occasionally been vexing for North American teams. That proved true at the 2014 world junior championship when Finland eliminated Canada in the semifinal and won the gold the following day.

"They're a different style of game, more of an east-west game while Canada is more of a north-south game," wing Jake Virtanen, who has Finnish roots, said of Monday's matchup (TSN/RDS/Buzzing The Net livechat, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT). "We're going to have to quickly get into the game and figure out a way we can play with them and they can play with us. I think we'll do a great job and be prepared.

"I think it's kind of a soft spot for the guys," Virtanen said when asked about the loss 12 months ago in Malmo, Sweden. "We don't try to talk about the past, we're just focused on the future on being ready for tomorrow's game "

In goal, Canada is coming back with Zach Fucale, who was the netminder of record in the 2014 semifinal loss.

"I woudn't say it's still fresh in my mind," Fucale, the Montreal Canadiens prospect, said of last year. "I remember it and I learned from it and can use it as motivation."

Eric Comrie's  17-save shutout in Saturday's 4-0 win over Germany included facing down six power plays and denying Marc Michaelis on a breakaway when there was just a two-goal margin in the second. However, with successive shutouts, there simply isn't reason to deviate from rotating the 19-year-old goalies. It's entirely possible the plan all along is to have each goalie make two starts in the preliminary round, since the lack of a quarter-final bye has de-incentivized the important of finishing first in pool play.

"They way we look at it is we're coming back with a soid goalie," coach Benoît Groulx said. "It's one game at a time. We don't think too far ahead."

Discipline, finding wingers for McDavid also priorities

Finland has been strapped for offence, with high NHL draft picks such as captain Arturri Lehkonen and Kaspari Kapanen unable thus far to produce points. Their only goals through their two games have come from 18-year-old wing Mikko Rantanen. The team's power play has yet to be a factor.

However, the law of averages would suggest that if a team gets enough man-up chances, eventually it will break through. Canada played with fire against Germany by taking six minors, including two to burly wing Nick Ritchie and a check-from-behind by speedster Anthony Duclair (which under IIHF rule, comes with an automatic 10-minute misconduct).

"The big thing with tournaments such as this is there is no grey area, it's either a penalty or it's not," defenceman Darnell Nurse said. "That's something we have to buckle down on. We didn't take the greatest penalties yesterday. As the touranment goes deeper, we have to improve on that."

Max Domi said the penalty problems were a matter of focus.

"A big part of taking penalties is not being ready to go," said Domi, who was gated for hooking early in the game. "Fix that and we  should be fine."

That being said, Canada's penalty kill was unscored upon against Germany. The club also owned the faceoff circle to the tune of  64.6 per cent (31-of-48), with Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Frédérik Gauthier offering a reminder of why he's here by going 10-for-10.

"I still think they can be better," Groulx said of his penalty killers. "We put ourselves in positions to block shots. I still think we have room for improvement in our routes [with taking away passing lanes and forcing puck carriers to make decisions].  Overall, I'm very happy with our penalty kill."

Connor McDavid parlayed his talents into something tangible with three power-play points on Saturday. Groulx had the 17-year-old Erie Otters star working with several different sets of wings, moving him away from Ritchie and captain Curtis Lazar and eventually playing him more with two 18-year-olds, Virtanen and Robby Fabbri (who is a childhood friend of McDavid's).

"Playing with Connor with Robbie, I think we played pretty good there in the third," said Virtanen, a Vancouver Canucks first-round pick. "We had a couple chances. Hopefully we can stay that way and keep producing."

Finland falling to Slovakia on Saturday, despite a 38-12 edge in shots on goals, was understandably portrayed as an upset. One would expect Finland (0-0-1-1), which boasts a good first defence pairing in Julius Honka and Alex Lintuniemi, is set to play desperate. An outright loss likely means Finland will have to beat Germany — which looked very game for the challenge if undermanned offensively vs. Canada — on New Year's Eve in order to get Group A's final medal round berth. Only the last-place teams in each pool are sent to the relegation round.

"Anyone can lose any of these games," Domi said. "That's just how high the competition is."

"Our team's coming together really quick," the London Knights captain added. "We're getting one step closer to what we want to accomplish, every day."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.