Finland’s identity on the international hockey scene is solid team play no matter which tournament they’re playing, and early in the semifinal they were using that style to get the puck through the neutral zone and into the attacking end versus Canada. The Canadians had a couple of chances, but when the Finns got the first power play with just under 10 minutes played, shots were 7-3 for Finland as it was deploying the better tactics to begin.
Struggling to get the puck to the net, Sam Bennett decided to attack the zone with speed and bowl right through goaltender Juuse Saros. For doing so, he was sent to the box for goaltender interference, giving Finland its second power play of the night. The Finns didn’t get a shot on their first opportunity, but they capitalized on the second when Sebastian Aho won the faceoff right to Mikko Rantanen, and he was able to beat Jordan Binnington far-side to open the scoring.
Needing a goal to get back in, Canada began the second period with its first shift of the game spent working the puck in the offensive zone rather than just getting rush chances. Shea Theodore attempted three shots on the shift, with two blocked and one going wide.
The relentless pressure to start led Aho to haul down Tom Wilson as the Canadian forward went to the net, and that gave Canada a chance on the power play. Instead it was Finland that took advantage when a clearing attempt was slowed by Nathan MacKinnon and left the puck sitting at centre ice. Erik Haula was the first one to get to it, and raced down the ice to score a short-handed goal to give Finland a 2-0 lead.
Deflated for a few minutes after the goal, Canada was able to go back on the attack trying to get on the board. The Finns were doing well to prevent the dangerous setups, but the Canadians were able to test Saros with several shots as they hoped for a rebound chance.
On one of Finland’s rare forays into the offensive zone since going up 2-0, Anton Lundell caught his NHL teammate Brad Marchand in the face with his stick, giving Canada another power play. This time the team with the extra man got the goal as Sam Reinhart tried to turn away from a Cale Makar point shot and had the puck go off his stick and in to reduce the deficit to one.
As the horn sounded on the period, Canada was looking for more chances, having taken over the play since the second goal from Finland, building a big edge in shots, and feeling a bit more confident about their ability to even up the score in the third period.
Finland was doing its best to hang on to the lead in the third period, but that also meant it was sitting back in its zone to close down the slot, and Canada continued to rack up shots and chances. It took 10:34, but they finally got their tying goal on a shot from the point by Theodore.
With the scored evened up, Finland had to flip the switch and start thinking offensively again, and did start to get the puck back Canada’s zone to break the endless stream of Canadian shots. The reprieve was short-lived as Canada went right back on the attack with all the play in Finland’s zone.
There was 2:35 left on the clock when MacKinnon took a high stick from Niko Mikkola, giving Canada a late chance on the power play. With two seconds remaining in the penalty, it was the man who drew the call who found the back of the net, a blasted one-timer from MacKinnon off a pass from McDavid.
Finland challenged the goal for offside. The review was close, but not close enough to overturn the call. Finland was given another penalty for delaying the game on the unsuccessful challenge. The Finns got a late chance and one final offensive-zone faceoff with a second to go, but Canada won the draw, took the 3-2 win, and advanced to play for gold on Sunday. With the loss, Finland will play for bronze on Saturday.
