HELSINKI, Finland -- In what will surely be the toughest test to date for a youthful squad averaging just 25.8 years of age, the United States (2-0) and Russia clash tonight at Hartwall Arena, in a highly anticipated game between the two remaining unbeaten teams in Group H.

“This is going to be a big game…we know they’re a good team and we need to come out flying,” said forward Craig Smith. “We know they have some high-end skill, so we’re going to have to take care of the puck and limit turnovers.”

One of the keys will be slowing down an offensively gifted Russian squad led by veteran New Jersey Devils forward, Ilya Kovalchuk, who leads the tournament in with four goals.

“Obviously, he’s a threat out there,” said Ryan Carter about Kovalchuk, who he plays with in New Jersey. “He’s a shooter first, but he’s a patient player so you need to try to take away the shot and make him make pass …. that’s about the best you can do.”

Former Nashville Predator Alexander Radulov, who now plays with CKSA Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League and defenseman Yevgeni Medvedev, have also made considerable offensive contributions.

In their opening two victories over Latvia and Germany, the defending world champions notched 10 goals, while allowing only one.

“It’s not just Kovalchuk, they have a lot of good offensive players out there,” said captain Paul Stastny, who is making his third world championship appearance, but has never faced Russia. “When they’re out there, you have to be careful and smart defensively, but at the same time if you get a chance you have to think offensively also.”

“If we can take time and space away from Kovalchuk, Radulov and some of their other skilled players, we’ll make it tough on them to make plays,” Smith added.

U.S. head coach Joe Sacco, who is leading Team USA at the world championships for the first time, spoke about what his players must do to be successful tonight.

“The biggest thing to slow down a team like this is that you have to look after the puck, that’s the bottom line,” Sacco said after Tuesday’s morning skate. “If you start turning pucks over in the neutral zone or at the blue lines, than it doesn’t matter how fast you are, you’re going to look slow because we’ll be backchecking all game long. We have to manage the puck extremely well, especially against certain players. If we do that we’ll slow down their attack because we’ll just spend more time in their zone hopefully.”

The U.S. has received balanced scoring in the tournament thus far, outscoring its opponents, 9-4, in wins over Austria and Latvia. Forwards Tim Stapleton and Stastny, along with defenseman Erik Johnson each have three points to date.

Special teams has also been a strength for the U.S. in the opening two victories and it will be crucial for them to keep that momentum going tonight. The U.S. has converted on 4-of-10 power play opportunities, while aggressively killing all seven man-advantage chances their opponents have seen.

Ben Bishop, who has allowed just four goals in the two U.S. wins will once again start between the pipes. For Russia, Philadelphia Flyer netminder Ilya Bryzgalov was announced as the starter. Brygalov opened the tournament with a 15-save shutout victory versus Latvia, while fellow goalie Semyon Varlamov played in Russia’s 4-1 win over Germany.

“Just stay on him, keep shooting the puck and be around the net,” said Craig Smith, when asked about how to beat Bryzgalov. “I think any good goalie hates traffic. The more you can get in his grill, I think the more frustrated he’ll be.”

The United States is 4-4-1 against Russia at previous world championships since the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia won the last two contests, both in 2009, including a semifinal victory, with the last U.S. victory coming in 2004, a 3-2 triumph in the qualification round. That year was also the last time that the U.S. captured a medal in the world championship, claiming bronze in Prague, Czech Republic.

“It should be a fun one against Russia, I know the boys are real excited,” Stastny said.

Opening face-off tonight at Hartwall Arena is at 8:15 local time/1:15 EDT and the game can be seen live on the NBC Sports Network and also streamed live in the U.S. via NBC Sports Live Extra.