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[QUOTE="jncuse, post: 5349838, member: 1969"]
TLDR version — Sweden plays against US with urgency as it’s much win for them.    US has no must win urgency.

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Let me take another crack at this.    If the Americans win tonight in regulation, do I think the Americans intentionally lose against Sweden.   Absolutely not.   But there are many factors at play that would make the Sweden much more likely to win Tuesday night against the US than expected, as I lay out below.    [U][I] Its essential for Canada to get at least an overtime result tonight (win or loss) -- or if you are a fan of Canada cheer hard for Finland this afternoon against Sweden!  At least then Canada controls its destiny on Tuesday.[/I][/U]

The Americans will have clinched and earned the final spot with a regulation win on Saturday.
- They will have had a massive win on road ice on Saturday.   They will likely and understandably come out flat on Tuesday, and their is no urgency to win that game since they have clinched.   Sweden on the other hand will be playing with massive urgency, and will not have to combat the US physical edge (forecheck) as much to the natural urgency factor in the US.
- Its been an intense tourney.   The US should take the opportunity to play the 4th line and bottom pair a little more, to reduce the minutes of the guys (especially Older vets) who played really hard in game 1 and 2.   You might even consider playing the backup -- but all the goalies are good.   They earned this right.  This isn't losing the game on purpose by any means -- just the proper way to navigate a tournament with the advantages you have earned along the way.
- If anybody is banged up the US earned the opportunity to rest them in game 3.

Sweden is pretty good - not quite at the level of the US or Canada, but there D is as good as anybody in the tournament.    Give them a few innate "energy" advantages, and it swings the likelihood of a game significantly
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