William Nylander and Team Sweden will face their toughest test of the preliminary round, squaring off against arch-rival Finland on Friday.

Nylander scored the game-winning goal in Sweden’s 5-2 victory over Italy on Wednesday, while registering five shots on goal. The 29-year-old missed practice Thursday due to maintenance, but is expected to suit up for the pivotal contest. Nylander is expected to resume his place on Sweden’s top line with Adrian Kempe and Joel Eriksson Ek.

Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson did not play a single shift during Wednesday’s opening game, despite suiting up for the contest. Ekman-Larsson is expected to operate as Sweden’s seventh defenceman once again against Finland.

“I think it’s just the format,” Sweden head coach Sam Hallam said via NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika. “We’re used to dressing six [defencemen], 12 [forwards]. You never have this question in the NHL. We didn’t have it in the 4 Nations. So, it’s the format that offers us the possibility to have an extra ‘D,’ an extra forward on the bench, and if we wouldn’t dress seven and 13 and get an early injury, I would look pretty stupid.”

“It’s not the first time,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I’m here to support my team, and I’m here to play if they need me to play, so we’re going to need everybody that’s here to kind of pull together and be on the same page, and that’s where we are.”

Sweden-Finland is always one of the marquee games on the international calendar, and there are further stakes at play. Slovakia defeated Finland 4-1 in the other Group B contest Thursday. Sweden and Slovakia are tied for the Group B lead, while Finland could slump to the bottom of the division with another loss. Italy will face off against Slovakia in the other 6:10 AM ET matchup.

Czechia will look to rebound from a 5-0 loss to Canada, when it takes on France. It wasn’t necessarily a poor game from Czechia, but Canada’s top-tier offensive talent ultimately won out. France lost 4-0 to Switzerland in its opening game.

Canada will resume its tournament at 3:10 PM against Switzerland, in a contest that will likely determine the top spot in Group A. Although Canada will be heavily favoured, count out Switzerland, led by Nico Hischier, Roman Josi, Timo Meier and J.J. Moser, at your own peril.