Lundell coming through in clutch for Finland in Olympics

MILAN -- Anton Lundell couldn't decide which play he made was more important to Team Finland securing a 4-1 win against Team Sweden in Group B of the men's hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Friday.

Was it his game-winning goal, scored at 15:26 of the first period when he chose not to bat the puck out of the air and into the net, instead letting it go in off Sweden goalie Filip Gustavsson so the officials would not overturn it upon video review?

Or was it the would-be goal for Sweden he avoided by clearing the puck out of the crease as it was sliding toward the goal line with approximately nine minutes left in the third period and Finland holding a 3-1 lead?

"I would say both are pretty even," Lundell, the Florida Panthers center, said with a smile. "Keeping the lead in the third is big because they would get the momentum, it would have been 3-2. That was important."

Other than goalie Juuse Saros and his 34 saves, there were arguably no two plays more important to Finland's first win in this tournament.

Finland (1-0-1-0) and Sweden (1-0-1-0) are tied with three points through two games in Group B. Slovakia (2-0-0-0) leads with six. Sweden faces Slovakia (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, CNBC, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Gem, SN, RDS) and Finland goes against 0-0-0-2 Italy (Peacock, USA, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, SN, CBC) to close out the preliminary round Saturday.

"He was great again," Finland captain Mikael Granlund said of Lundell. "I mean, we all know that on our team. All the players around the League know how good he is. Obviously, he's a little bit under the radar, but what he's been doing for Florida for years now, obviously winning a couple Stanley Cups, it's not an accident. We need a guy like him and he's been great for us."

Being in the right spot at the right time and making the right play has been Lundell's calling card in the NHL, and he's a huge reason why the Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. His ability to touch all parts of the game in a positive way is why coach Paul Maurice thinks the 24-year-old will one day take over for Aleksander Barkov as captain.

Lundell is fifth on Florida in scoring this season with 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 54 games, five points off his NHL career-high of 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games last season.

But it has been in the postseason when he has truly flourished; he had 35 points (nine goals, 26 assists) with a plus-27 rating in 47 playoff games through the Panthers' two-year championship run.

So it's really no surprise, considering Lundell's big-game experience, that he's the one who came through in the clutch for Finland here.

The Finns didn't feel they played poorly in losing 4-1 to the Slovaks on Wednesday, but they couldn't get to the inside enough, didn't have enough bodies at the net, and couldn't generate much despite peppering goalie Samuel Hlavaj with 40 shots.

"Forty shots, their goalie was unreal," Lundell said. "It happens. It's hockey. Today we had that hunger. We wanted to win bad. We wanted to show that we're capable of playing these tight, even games."

Lundell swung it in Finland's favor first by going to the net to score his goal that gave the Finns a 2-0 lead after Nikolas Matinpalo scored with a shot from above the left face-off circle at 7:44 of the first period.

Eetu Luostarinen, Lundell's regular linemate in Florida, had the puck in the corner and whipped it toward the net.

"I saw two guys at the net, so just a good tip," Luostarinen said. "Just try to create a lot of chaos of that, so that went in."

Lundell said he was going to try to knock the puck in but instinctively did not.

"Yeah, I was close," he said. "I was going to touch it, but thank God I didn't touch it."

Then in the third period, with Finland leading 3-1 thanks to Joel Armia's short-handed goal in the second, Lundell was again in the right place at the right time so he could make the right play.

The puck bounced around in the slot and it was absolutely ticketed for back of the net with Saros at the top of the blue paint, but Lundell reached for it, beat Alexander Wennberg to it, and cleared it out of harm's way.

"I mean, that’s a great defensive play," Luostarinen said. "That’s what we like about him. He plays hard in both ends, and even a goalie, he can be there. That’s a huge, huge play for us."

Lundell had a breakaway three minutes later that Gustavsson stopped, but because he already scored, helped Finland limit Sweden to one power-play goal on six chances, and stopped a goal from going in in the third, that was a bonus.

"I mean, what's there not to like?" forward Erik Haula said. "Florida is lucky to have him."

Finland too.

"All three playoff runs to the finals and twice to be able to win has been a huge honor and I've learned something from every single game," Lundell said. "That's something I bring with me here. I try to get my mindset to the same mindset; go out, have fun, win."