The Olympic men’s hockey semifinals began Friday morning and the opening course was a heavyweight clash between Canada and Finland.
The Canadians and Finns got this far thanks to overtime thrillers in the semifinals, but for Team Canada, the victory came at a price. Captain Sidney Crosby was injured on a hit by Radko Gudas of the Czech Republic and left the game early.
Just before puck drop on Friday, it was announced that he would be out of the lineup against Finland.
It was the last bit of news Canada needed against a very good Finnish team that plays much more physical than the Finnish teams of past Olympics.
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The Finns opened the scoring late in a fast and physical first period with Mikko Rantanen lighting the lamp just seconds into a Finnish power play after Canada’s Sam Bennett was given the door for goalie interference.
Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros stood out on several occasions as the Canadians had much more rubber on net than the Finns.
Special teams continued to be a big story in the second as we got our first taste of the Canadian power play without Crosby after Sebastian Aho was called for interference, but things got derailed quickly.
Finland surprised Canada by managing to clear the puck out of its zone and throw Nashville’s Erik Haula for a short-handed breakaway, which he buried for a 2-0 lead.
About ten minutes later, Finland’s Anton Lundell received a high-sticking penalty, and… would you believe it? — special teams made headlines once again, but this time it was in Canada’s favor.
Lundell’s teammate, Sam Reinhart, of the Florida Panthers, deflected a Cale Makar shot from the point to get rid of that goose egg for the Canadians.
Canada continued to pile on the pressure and, with just under ten minutes remaining in regulation, outshot the Finns 29-14.
This pressure allowed a Shea Theodore missile from the top of the circle to find the back of the net.
The Finns were unhappy with the contact Brad Marchand made with Saros, but if you look at that again, the contact was clearly initiated by Finland’s Erik Haula in the crease.
Canada never let up after that, and that pressure certainly played a role in Finland’s Niko Mikkola being penalized for high-sticking Nathan MacKinnon with about two and a half minutes remaining in regulation.
And once again, the special teams produced, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring the game-winner with just 35.2 seconds left in regulation.
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The Finns disputed the goal, saying the Canadians had entered the offside zone – and boy, was it close; It was definitely worth a shot, but the decision stood and Team Canada led 3-2.
That’s how things ended, as the Canadians won 3-0 to cement their spot in Sunday’s gold medal game, where they will face the winner of Friday afternoon’s other semifinal matchup between Team USA and Slovakia.
As for the Finns, they still have some unfinished business as they will face the loser of this match in the bronze medal match on Saturday.
