The Olympic men’s hockey semifinals got underway Friday morning, and the opening pitch was a heavyweight showdown between Canada and Finland.
Both the Canadians and Finns made it this far thanks to OT thrillers in the semifinals, but for Team Canada, victory came at a price. Captain Sidney Crosby was injured after a hit from the Czech Republic’s Radko Gudas and left the game early.
Just before puck drop on Friday, it was announced that he would be out of the lineup against Finland.
This was the last news Canada needed against a very good Finland team that plays far more physical than Finnish teams in the Olympics past.
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The Finns opened the scoring toward the end of a fast and physical opening frame, with Mikko Rantanen lighting the lamp just seconds into a Finnish power play after Canada’s Sam Bennett got the goal for goaltender interference.
Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros came up big several times as the Canadians got a lot more rubber on the net than the Finns did.
Special teams continued to be a big story in the second as we got our first taste of the Crosby-less Canadian power play after Sebastian Aho was called for interference, but things got off the rails in a hurry.
Finland surprised Canada by clearing the puck out of their zone and outjumping Nashville’s Erik Haula for a shorthanded breakaway, which he buried to go up 2-0.
About ten minutes later, Finland’s Anton Lundell took a high-sticking penalty and – would you believe? – Special teams was the story once again, but this time it was in Canada’s favor.
Lundell’s Florida Panthers teammate Sam Reinhart deflected a Cale Makar shot from the point to get rid of that goose egg for the Canadiens.
Canada continued to bring the pressure and with just under ten minutes left in regulation they outscored the Finns 29-14.
That pressure resulted in a Shea Theodore missile from the top of the circle finding the back of the net.
The Finns were unhappy with the contact Brad Marchand made with Saros, but looking back, the contact was clearly initiated by Finland’s Erik Haula in the crease.
Canada never took their foot off the gas after that, and that pressure certainly played a role in Finland’s Niko Mikkola getting a penalty on the tall Nathan MacKinnon with about two and a half minutes left in regulation.
And once again, special teams produced, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring the game-winner with just 35.2 seconds left in regulation.
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The Finns challenged the goal, saying the Canadians had gone into the offside zone – and boy, was it close; totally worth taking a break – but the call stood and Team Canada was up 3-2.
That’s how things ended, with the Canadians going on a 3-0 rally to cement their spot in the gold medal game on Sunday, where they will face the winner of Friday afternoon’s other semifinal game between Team USA and Slovakia.
As for the Finns, they still have something to take care of as they face the loser of that match in the bronze medal match on Saturday.
