NHL teams
Pierre LeBrun, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Team Canada tweaks lineup for round-robin finale

NHL, Ice Hockey

TORONTO -- First-place Team Canada made lineup changes ahead of Wednesday night's round-robin finale against Team Europe, with Claude Giroux and Jake Muzzin dressing for the first time in the tournament.

"We talk a lot on these teams of 'make everyone important,'" said head coach Mike Babcock. "At the start of the tournament or the start of exhibition, everyone was on power play, everyone was on penalty kill -- that's what we try to do. We try to play our people, make them all important. We think that's so important in these events.

"And for these guys, I mean, Giroux is the captain of his hockey team and he's watching us play. So I just think that they have the opportunity is good."

Corey Crawford made his first start in goal after backing up Carey Price the two previous games. Braden Holtby is serving as Crawford's backup.

Babcock also announced that key veterans Shea Weber and Ryan Getzlaf would be scratched from Wednesday's game, with Team Canada wary of the back-to-back games after Tuesday's victory over the U.S., and the coach hinting that both players are a bit banged up.

"Now, we didn't yank guys out [because] those guys didn't want to play," said Babcock. "They just weren't able to, so here we are in this situation where we can use these guys, and they're good players."

Babcock added, however, that both Weber and Getzlaf would be ready for the semifinals.

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