5 lessons learned about Canada, Europe ahead of World Cup final

The World Cup curtain is set to close.

Though many shrugged off the tournament prior to the first puck drop, over the last two weeks, fans have been been treated to some of the best hockey around - and in September, no less.

Now it all comes down to Canada and Europe. Here are five things we've learned about the World Cup finalists in the tournament so far.

Europe's over its early exhibition blunders

After two exhibition games that saw Team Europe dismantled by North America 4-0 and 7-4, it seemed that only one of the hybrid teams was going to make it out of round-robin play, and it wasn't Europe.

However, after a surprising final tuneup contest that saw the team beat Sweden 6-2, Europe was well on its way.

The team shocked the United States and got by the Czech Republic and Sweden, its only loss along the way coming against Canada. It's safe to say now that those early defeats are a thing of the past.

Canada never down for long

Blink and you might have missed the two occasions in which Canada actually trailed in this tournament.

The Americans held the lead against their northern rivals, but that was extinguished just 1:29 later. Then, in Saturday's tilt against the Russians, after Canada opened the scoring, Russia responded with two straight goals.

Once again, the Canadians didn't panic, and they'd knot the game up just 1:12 later. No lead is safe over Canada, and the team certainly won't roll over and die.

Crosby could do great things as a Bruin

Who says finding linemates for Sidney Crosby is hard?

Some blamed that conundrum for Crosby's poor offensive outing at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, where the captain managed just three points in six games.

Mike Babcock appears to have found a solution: pairing Crosby with a couple Boston Bruins in Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.

The three have comprised the team's top line, and through four games, Crosby is excelling, leading the tournament with seven points. Marchand sits second with five and Bergeron isn't far behind with four.

The trio's been lethal and valuable in all situations. It's a good thing for NHL clubs that the line will cease to exist once the week wraps up.

Halak is a busy man

Not only has Jaroslav Halak been Europe's go-to between the pipes, he's arguably been the goaltender of the tournament.

Through four games, the New York Islanders netminder has amassed a .947 save percentage and a stunning 1.96 goals-against average, both just slightly worse than Carey Price's numbers.

However, take out Halak's 4-1 game against Canada in the round robin and he's leaps and bounds better than any other goaltender in the tournament, with those numbers improving to 9.62 and 1.3, respectively.

Canada is as good as expected

Canada entered the tournament as the favorite and will enter the final as such.

Nothing has changed the perception of the hockey-loving nation. As the World Cup has trucked along the club's superiority has gone fairly uncontested, much as it did in Sochi.

Canada's outshot the opposition by an average of 44 to 29.25 through four games and outscored them 19-6.

The Canadians are a machine that keeps on rolling. The real question is whether it takes two games or three for them to capture the World Cup.