Reigning Olympic champion Canada takes on reigning World champion Russia in the World Hockey Championship gold-medal game, live on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Canada, captained by Sidney Crosby, enters the final in Prague, Czech Republic, having won all of its nine games by a combined 46-goal margin.
Dallas Stars forwards Jason Spezza and Tyler Seguin lead the tournament in points and co-lead it in goals, respectively. Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith shut out Belarus in the quarterfinals and the Czech Republic in the semifinals.
Canada’s last World title came in 2007.
Russia eyes its fifth World title in the last nine years. It was boosted in a 4-0 semifinal win over the U.S. on Saturday by the arrival of Alex Ovechkin, who flew in after his Washington Capitals were eliminated from the NHL playoffs on Wednesday.
The Russian team also includes four-time Olympian Ilya Kovalchuk, three-time Olympian Evgeni Malkin, St. Louis Blues leading points scorer Vladimir Tarasenko and Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Sergey Bobrovsky.
