Canada clearly wanted another shot at the U.S.
The Canadians beat Finland 5-3 on Monday to book their spot in Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off final against the Americans.
It was a must-win game for the Canadians, as a loss in any capacity would’ve ended their tournament. Connor McDavid compared Monday’s matchup with the Finns to a “Game 7,” and Canada’s stars sure played like it to start the game.
McDavid opened the scoring for Canada 4:13 into the first period, then Nathan MacKinnon would make it 2-0 just 46 seconds later.
The Finns were on their heels right from the get-go, and Canada kept the gas pedal down over the first two periods.
Brayden Point would add a third goal in the first to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes.
Finnish netmider Kevin Lankinen would come out to start the second period, but was pulled after MacKinnon scored his second of the game off a feed from fellow Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby. Lankinen gave up four goals on 13 shots and was replaced by Juuse Saros.
Finland would make things a little dicey late in the third period with three goals over the final seven minutes, but Crosby would seal the game with an empty netter.
Canada also got a nice boost against Finland with No. 1 defenceman Cale Makar returning to the lineup after a one-game absence due to an illness. Makar led the Canadians in ice time in his first game back.
With Canada’s win, the outcome of Monday night’s game between Sweden and the U.S. is irrelevant. Canada and Sweden both entered Monday’s action with two points, but the Canadians have the head-to-head tiebreaker due to a 4-3 OT win over the Swedes on Wednesday.
Thursday’s final will be a rematch of the intense, fight-filled game between the North American neighbours on Saturday. After three fights in the first nine seconds, the U.S. would go on to beat Canada 3-1 to clinch a spot in the championship game.
You can watch Thursday’s highly anticipated rematch live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
