The forwards have given little cause for concern, except, of course, Alexander Ovechkin’s injury. That was a bit of a blow, considering how well the captain HAS cooperated with his linemates Sergei Plotnikov and Viktor Tikhonov. The latter two have been among the tournament’s most pleasant surprises, and Plotnikov’s takeaway followed by a ridiculous behind-the-back pass against Belarus was easily one of the most beautiful scoring plays in Minsk.

Ovechkin’s readiness is still a big question mark but if this Russian national team cannot beat France with a hobbled Ovi or even without him altogether, it won’t be in a position to offer legitimate excuses.

Yevgeni Malkin, who joined the team from the Pittsburgh Penguins in time for its final Preliminary Round game, looked great individually but wasn’t quite on the same page with his linemates just yet.

“I’ll be honest, it was a bit hard,” said Malkin after the Belarus game. “Especially the first period. We will have to watch the film and make some kind of an analysis, but I hope that it will be easier the next time. Maybe, we tried to pass too much at times and should have shot more.”

Well, if Sochi has taught us anything it’s that the only linemate Malkin positively cannot find chemistry with is Ovechkin. As for Nikolai Kulyomin, they go back all the way to their native Magnitogorsk and a couple of extra practices have surely shored up whatever communications issues there were.

Of course, it also should be noted that in the last two games, after Russia had clinched the first place in Group B, its feared offense looked decidedly more pedestrian, especially in the opening stages. There wasn’t much to be excited about in the Germany and Belarus games, as the old Russian bane of wanting to win without trying too hard had resurfaced. And it wasn’t just the fans and the reporters who noted that.

“It was difficult to motivate the players for a meaningless game,” said head coach Oleg Znarok in his blunt manner. “It was evident at the morning skate that they were too relaxed. We will need to learn from this.”

That they do, as complacency in a game against the French can be deadly. Roussel is right in saying that his team has grown compared to last year, which is something the Canadians and the Slovaks have found out to their chagrin.

“We used to come to the World Championships hoping to beat the team that just got promoted and avoid relegation,” said France’s Canada-born head coach Dave Henderson. “But here, we have beaten Canada and almost tied Sweden in regulation and we don’t want to stop there.”

The French do have something to throw at Russia, indeed. Roussel’s line has been particularly great for Les Bleus in Minsk. Stephane Da Costa, another on of the tournament’s top scorers, is not a stranger to the NHL, even though he has been spending most of his time in the Ottawa Senators farm team in Binghamton. The Parisian with French, Portuguese and Polish roots has found perfect harmony on the team’s top line, with Roussel and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare from Sweden’s AIK Skelleftea. In the game against Denmark, whom Les Bleus contrived to blow out by the score of 6-2, their fearsome threesome combined for 11 points.

France’s biggest problem is defence, which was aptly demonstrated in the 5-4 loss to Czech Republic, in which they squandered a 3-0 lead. But that happened without their top goalie, the 38-year-old former NHLer and Ovechkin’s ex-teammate Cristobal Huet. It is not usually a great tactic to substitute solid defense for great goaltending, but Huet has been so good in Minsk, that few people are doubting that on any given day he could prove to be an unsolvable puzzle for the likes of Ovechkin and Malkin.

If this happens, it will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest upsets in the history of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships. But at least the Russians won’t be able to say that nobody had warned them.