The two last faced each other in the IIHF World Championship in 2019. Finland defeated Sweden 5-4 in overtime in the quarterfinals and went on to win gold; Lankinen allowed four goals on 18 shots in that game, including one by Pettersson. “As of now we’re not teammates for a week,” Lankinen said. “But maybe when we get back, we’ll talk more.”

The NHL announced on Thursday that the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-off between Canada and Sweden drew more than 4.1M viewers across North America. Within the United States, it was the highest rated game that has aired on TNT this season averaging more than one million viewers.

Time will tell whether or not the first ever 4 Nations Face-Off will be successful. Over the next eight days, Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden will hit the ice in Montreal and Boston for the first best-on-best tournament involving NHL players since the World Cup of Hockey in 2015.