Canada's potent power play pivotal in Olympic semifinal win vs. Finland

MILAN -- Team Canada had evened the score already, a dramatic comeback built on relentless pressure and unyielding belief.

And now, with 2:35 remaining on the clock in the third period of their semifinal game against Team Finland at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, coach Jon Cooper had the luxury of sending over the boards Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar to start a power play.

“It’s incredible,” forward Sam Bennett said. “There are so many threats on that power play.”

For the record, that’s three of the top four scorers in the NHL this season, the defenseman with the most points in the League since 2018-19 and another forward who is tied for second in goals since 2023-24.

There’s a whole bunch of other accolades to mention with that group too, but that would delay bringing up the inevitable, which was, of course, a game-winning power-play goal.

“It was a five-man effort,” MacKinnon said.

MacKinnon scored with two seconds remaining on the power play, a one-timer from the left face-off circle with 36 seconds left in regulation, to deliver Canada a 3-2 victory at Santagiulia Arena on Friday, punching its ticket into the gold medal game Sunday.

“He got rewarded for the wall battle right before that,” Cooper said of MacKinnon.

There was so much more than that; it was one minute and 58 seconds of elite hockey players doing elite hockey things, and then two minutes and 10 seconds of pure painful anxiety.

“It was a test,” Celebrini said.

There was a great chance form the left circle for Reinhart just eight seconds into the man-advantage. Finland goalie Juuse Saros swatted it away.

Makar tried a one-timer from the point. MacKinnon tried one from the left circle. McDavid set up Celebrini for a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle. Makar set up McDavid for a one-timer from the middle of the same circle.

The puck was moving so fast. Up, down, left, right. All over the place for opportunities.

“Macklin won a ton of good battles,” MacKinnon said. “Connor made amazing plays. Cale was doing his thing. ‘Reino,’ same thing.”

MacKinnon was leaving himself out, but next came what Cooper meant about being rewarded for winning a wall battle.

McDavid tried to move the puck across the middle to MacKinnon in the left circle, but Finland forward Teuvo Teravainen got just enough of his stick blade on it to alter the pass, sending the puck bounding into the corner.

Had Teravainen intercepted the pass he would have been able to clear the puck and likely kill the remainder of the power play.

A break for Canada.

MacKinnon chased the puck into the corner. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and Teravainen chased him. He fended them off. Reinhart came in to help. Canada won the battle, getting the puck low, below the goal line.

Now Celebrini got there, getting inside position on Finland defenseman Olli Maatta to win that battle along the end boards before whipping the puck into the middle for McDavid in the right circle. He got it as it came off Finland forward Roope Hintz’s stick.

Another break for Canada.

As all four Finns on the ice turned their heads to McDavid, there was MacKinnon on the back door, wide open behind them in the left circle.

“Great pass,” MacKinnon said.

Better shot.

MacKinnon ticketed his one-timer low into the near side with two seconds remaining on the power play, right off Saros’ right pad and in.

“You give that guy a shot, he’s not going to make a mistake,” Celebrini said.

Oh, but wait, there’s more.

That entire sequence leading to MacKinnon’s goal took 49 seconds to happen, because McDavid entered the zone with the puck with 51 seconds remaining on the power play.

But Celebrini almost entered first, his right skate dragging the blue line as the puck was, too.

The Finns thought he was offside. So they challenged.

“Honestly, when the play went across I thought there was a potential for offside so right away I went to our video guys and said, ‘Is that off?’ ” Cooper said. “They said it was good so I didn’t think about it again.”

Watch a replay and you’ll see how close it was, Celebrini at the bottom of the screen, along the left-wing boards.

“When it got challenged, now I’m questioning our guys, ‘Did you guys get this right?’ ” Cooper said. “There are some words being said in there. Again and again and again they said, 'It’s good.' It was close, there was no doubt it was close. You never know if another camera angle came up after I’d asked them earlier, but apparently it didn’t.”

As official Dan O’Rourke was announcing Finland was challenging, MacKinnon could be seen on the bench saying, “Oh, no (expletive) way.”

“Definitely you’re excited and then they challenge and you get a little nervous,” MacKinnon said. “It took a while and usually when it takes a while then you know he starts talking to the ref about their decision, it gets a little scary. But I think ‘Coop’ said like, five times, it was good. We looked at it, but you still never know what they see. Just waiting for the call.”

It took exactly two minutes and 10 seconds for O’Rourke to get back on the microphone to announce it was a good goal.

“Thankfully, that stayed a goal,” Celebrini said.

It did and Finland got the penalty for a failed challenge.

Canada wilted away the last 35.2 seconds, staying alive to play for gold.

“When you get behind you’ve got to push,” forward Tom Wilson said. “We pushed and we pushed. We played like Team Canada can and they couldn’t hang on.”