Anton Lundell will be out of Team Finland's lineup with an illness on Saturday, and thankfully, Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola will dress despite appearing to sustain an injury.
Team Finland will face Italy in the final group-stage game today, with Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, but without center Anton Lundell.
Mikkola appeared to suffer an injury against Sweden on Friday after blocking a shot. Mikkola was seen limping to the dressing room, but has clearly woken up feeling better and won’t miss any time.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Lundell’s absence from the lineup today is due to an illness. He has recently returned from an injury and is back to playing big minutes. In a game where they should be able to beat Italy handily, resting Lundell makes sense.
He’s been one of Finland’s more trusted forwards and has played the bulk of his minutes against their opponents’ top line.
With Lundell out of the lineup, Finland has elected to run 12 forwards and eight defensemen, meaning Finland will have four lines and no extra forwards, but two extra defensemen.
Finland will likely finish second or third in Group B and will have to play in a quarter-final playoff on Tuesday.
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