Finland's effort bold, but it won't play for gold at Olympics

MILAN -- Team Finland had a golden opportunity.

The Finns held a 2-0 lead in the second period at Santagiulia Arena on Friday in the semifinals of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. All they had to do was hold on, and they would have earned the biggest win in Finnish hockey history and a spot in the gold medal game Sunday.

But they couldn’t, not against Team Canada. They ended up defending too much and gave up three goals, the last to forward Nathan MacKinnon with 35.3 seconds left in the third period, losing 3-2.

The Canadians will play for gold Sunday. The Finns will play for bronze Saturday.

“Disappointed, sad, upset, a lot of emotions,” forward Erik Haula said. “I kind of feel …”

His voice trailed off as he searched for the right word.

“Flat,” he continued. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

This loss would be difficult to explain if it weren’t against Team Canada, which has won the past four best-on-best tournaments -- including the last two Olympics with NHL players, in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014 -- and brought another loaded roster to Milan.

Forward Mikko Rantanen gave Finland a 1-0 lead on the power play at 16:52 of the first period, and Haula extended it to 2-0 with a shorthanded breakaway goal at 3:03 of the second.

At that point, Rantanen said, the Finns were “feeling good.”

But they managed only one shot on goal the rest of the second period as Canada pushed to come back, and forward Sam Reinhart cut their lead to 2-1 at 13:35 of the second when he deflected a shot by defenseman Cale Makar on the power play.

“I think we tried [to create offense], but when you defend, like, 25, 30 seconds in your ‘D’ zone, there’s not one guy in the world who can go offense after that,” Rantanen said. “So then we were dumping it in a lot and changing, and then they were just coming at us, so that was kind of the second period.”

The Finns are famous for defending, playing with solid structure, getting sticks in lanes, breaking up plays and blocking shots. They also have a goalie capable of stealing a game in Juuse Saros.

But they didn’t sit back too much by choice. Multiple players said they spoke during the second intermission about attacking.

“Yeah, you’re going to break that down as best you can,” Haula said. “But yeah, we played the best team in the world. Took it to them. We kept talking about how we can’t just defend, and yeah, it’s … They’re a good team. That’s the truth. We talked about it between the second and third that we’ve got to push for that next one.”

The Finns generated a couple of good scoring chances in the third period. Goalie Jordan Binnington had to make big saves on forwards Anton Lundell and Sebastian Aho.

But the Canadians tied it 2-2 at 10:34 when defenseman Shea Theodore blasted a shot from the top of the right circle off the top of Saros’ left arm. Saros was upset, because Canada forward Brad Marchand had fallen on him shortly before the goal. But Haula had bumped Marchand, and Saros had a chance to reset himself.

With 2:35 to go, just after a MacKinnon shot hit the blocker and shaft of Saros’ stick and stayed out of the net, MacKinnon took a stick in the face from Finland defenseman Niko Mikkola. That gave Canada another power play.

Once again, the Canadians put out a top unit that included three of the top four scorers in the NHL: Connor McDavid leads the League with 96 points (34 goals, 62 assists) in 58 games for the Edmonton Oilers. MacKinnon is next with 93 points (40 goals, 53 assists) for the Colorado Avalanche. Macklin Celebrini ranks fourth in the NHL with 81 points (28 goals, 53 assists) in 55 games for the San Jose Sharks.

That unit stayed on the ice until MacKinnon scored the winner. Celebrini banked the puck off the end boards, McDavid sent a pass from the right circle to the left, and MacKinnon one-timed the puck, squeezing the puck between Saros and the left goal post.

Canada outshot Finland 17-6 in the third and 39-17 in the game.

“It’s hard to feel anything right now,” Haula said. “We lost. They’re going to the gold medal game, and we’re going to the bronze. I don’t feel anything. I feel about as bad as you can feel.”

Finland won gold at the last Olympics, which had no NHL players in Beijing in 2022. In the previous five Olympics with NHL players, the Finns won four medals (one silver, three bronze), more than anyone else. They historically play hard for bronze and should be expected to again, despite the agony of this loss.

“I’m sure we will,” Haula said. “But we were here for gold, and nobody thought we could do it today, and our goal is prove everyone wrong, and just came up short.”