The news coming out of the Canadian locker room before the game was not good. Captain Sidney Crosby could not play because of a lower-body injury suffered earlier in the tournament. With international rules, there has to be a player wearing the captain’s “C,” so Connor McDavid would be the captain, while the alternate captains went to Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. But it was MacKinnon that would play the hero for the Canadians in this one.

First Period

The initial period was a heavy one, with anyone who got near the boards getting nailed. But the period turned into all Finland. With their too many men penalty, Canadians gave momentum to the Finns halfway through. Sam Bennett crashed the net and received a goaltender interference penalty, setting up a faceoff in the Canadian zone. Right off the draw, former Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen ripped the loose puck past Jordan Binnington for the 1–0 lead.

Second Period

The Canadians came out of the gate for the second period with some strong offensive pressure. They held the puck in the Finnish zone for almost two minutes straight when MacKinnon took a massive hit. The hit sent Sebastian Aho to the box, but the Finns didn’t give up on the penalty kill. Joel Armia poked the puck down the boards, and Erik Haula ran away with it for a short-handed backhand shot over Binnington’s glove.


With just over five minutes left in the second, Brad Marchand was high-sticked putting the Canadians back on the power play. Makar knew exactly what to do, shooting from the top of the slot. Sam Reinhart tipped the shot and Canada finally broke through as the Finns maintained the 2–1 lead. With the Canadian goal, McDavid added his 12th point of the tournament, now holding the single-tournament points record by an NHL player.

Third Period

Once again the Canadians brought the pressure in the third period. They were doing everything they could just to get the game tied, and did it after outshooting the Finns 9–3 when Shea Theodore took charge. He took a pass from Travis Sanheim and wristed a shot past Juuse Saros for the game-tying goal.

As MacKinnon ran with the puck in the corner, Niko Mikkola hit him with his stick on the chin. With roughly two and a half minutes left, the Canadians headed to the power play. Makar, McDavid, MacKinnon and Macklin Celebrini dominated the puck during the power play. McDavid sent a pass over to MacKinnon for the one-timer, and he found the hole on the post to put the Canadians up with 35 seconds left. It wasn’t over yet. The Finns challenged for offsides; the goal would stand.

Up Next

Canada will play the winner of the USA/Slovakia game later on Friday. They will play for the gold medal on Sunday morning at 6 a.m. MT. Meanwhile, Team Finland will play the loser of the USA/Slovakia game Bronze on Saturday. That game will be at 12:30 p.m. MT.