USA’s Jake Oettinger to start Monday against Sweden

The move makes sense, as Hellebuyck’s efforts last week in Montreal helped the U.S. secure regulation wins over Finland and Canada, punching the team’s ticket to Thursday night’s final in Boston.

The Winnipeg Jets netminder gave up just two goals over his two starts, making 45 saves across the two victories, including 26 in front of a hostile Canadian crowd on Saturday night.

Oettinger has been part of another solid Dallas Stars team this season. He’s second in the league in wins (26), only trailing Hellebuyck. The 26-year-old has a 2.35 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage in 40 appearances thus far.

This will be Oettinger’s first bit of international experience since the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championship, where he went 3-0, helping the Americans win the bronze medal. The Lakeville, Minnesota native also has two IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship bronze medals, a IIHF World Junior Championship bronze medal and the 2017 World Juniors gold medal on his resume–though he didn’t play for the U.S. in that tournament.

Other news coming out of the Americans’ morning skate including the absence of Matthew Tkachuk. The Florida Panthers forward didn’t play for most of the third period against Canada with what turned out to be a lower-body injury. Chris Kreider will jump into the top 12 as a result, most likely playing on the fourth line alongside Vincent Trochek and Kyle Connor.

Also, defenseman Charlie McAvoy will get the night off, with Jake Sanderson hopping on the blue line for the U.S. against Tre Kronor.

While the game doesn’t mean much for the United States (2-0-0), Sweden (0-0-2) has a chance to play their way into another meeting with the Americans. If the Canada/Finland game goes to overtime or a shootout, the Swedes can play for the gold if they win in regulation on Monday.