Canada advances to men’s Olympic hockey final after comeback win against Finland
For the fourth time in the NHL player era, Canada is off to the gold medal game thanks to a 3-2 victory over Finland.
Canada will play the winner of Slovakia vs. the United States in the gold medal game at 8:00 AM ET on Sunday. Finland will take on the loser of the second semifinal at 2:40 PM ET on Saturday.
With Sidney Crosby out of the lineup due to injury, Sam Bennett was drafted back in after missing the previous game due to injury. But with about three minutes left in the first, he’d take a penalty that would result in a goal against after being involved in a skirmish with Florida Panthers teammate Niko Mikkola. Just two seconds into the ensuing power play, Sebastian Aho got the puck to Mikko Rantanen, who made no mistake on his release to make it 1-0 Finland.
Canada had a chance to tie it up on the power play early in the second period, only for the Finns to capitalize. After a bit of miscommunication between Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, Erik Haula was able to score on a shorthanded breakaway chance to make it 2-0 Finland. Fortunately for the Canadians, Sam Reinhart would tip in Makar’s shot at 34:20 on the man advantage to make it 2-1 heading into the second intermission.
Canada controlled the puck game, doubling the shot count at one point midway through. At 50:34, Shea Theodore managed to ease the nerves of Canadians with his 2-2 goal, taking a feed from Travis Sanheim to make things even more interesting. With just over 30 seconds to go in the game, Nathan MacKinnon gave Canada its first – and only – lead of the game, erasing a 2-0 deficit to win the game 3-2.
Canada
#6 Travis Sanheim, D (Philadelphia Flyers): I haven’t loved Sanheim’s tournament but he was good today. He made a couple of nice plays early in this one to put the pressure on Finland and then nabbed the primary assist on the 2-2 goal. Sanheim isn’t a high-end offensive talent like Cale Makar, but Sanheim was more noticeable with the puck tonight.
#17 Macklin Celebrini, LW (San Jose Sharks): The stats might not show it, but it felt like this was Celebrini’s best game of the tournament. He led Canada in shots while getting leaned on in all situations to help fuel the attack. The young forward has been a legit MVP candidate from the get-go, with his play beside McDavid all tournament long giving Canada two incredible high-level talents on the top line.
#63 Brad Marchand, LW (Florida Panthers): Marchand was like a wasp that doesn’t leave you alone at a warm summer barbecue. There was definitely some significant goaltender interference on the second Canadian goal, but it wasn’t challenged by the Finnish bench, likely because Marchand was pushed. But that’s what he did all game long: he shoved, he battled and he supported everyone he hit the ice with in the attacking zone. This was his best game, no question.
#97 Connor McDavid, C (Edmonton Oilers): With no Crosby, and Nathan MacKinnon not playing at 100 percent, it felt like McDavid was on the ice every other shift. The pre-medal round favorite to win MVP just couldn’t get anything on the board when it mattered today, but he still had an overall positive impact.
Finland
#74 Juuse Saros, G (Nashville Predators): Saros might be the frontrunner to take home top goalie honors. Canada kept him busy in this one, but Saros tracked pucks as well as we’ve seen any goalie do today. He made a huge stop on Macklin Celebrini in the first period after cheating a bit to get over in time, and it paid off. With over 35 saves, Saros was absolutely instrumental in keeping the Finns in this one.
#15 Anton Lundell, C (Florida Panthers): Lundell makes Florida’s bottom six so much more dangerous. He does a great job of getting his stick in scoring lanes and is really strong defensively. The Finns struggled to generate scoring chances in the first, but Lundell still had three decent looks to turn up the pressure. Lundell missed a game due to norovirus, but has been excellent otherwise.
#56 Erik Haula, RW (Nashville Predators): Haula is an absolute workhorse. He has been a near-perfect fourth-liner all tournament, winning most of his battles. Today, he was rewarded with a shorthanded breakaway goal, creating a bit of havoc to score on Finland’s first shot of the second period.
#96 Mikko Rantanen, RW (Dallas Stars): That goal was nice. Rantanen loves to shoot, and he made no mistake on the quick release on the power play. Beyond that, Rantanen hit everyone in sight and also looked fine on the penalty kill. The Finns seem to not play him enough, though – it feels like he has almost been effective despite playing less than the rest of the top six.
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