Finland upsets, USA bests Canada in 4 Nations rivalry matchups

6 days ago  /  Broad Street Hockey  /  Read Time: 3 minutes 17 seconds

Throughout the 4 Nations Faceoff, we’ll be keeping track of all the action and bringing you all of the results in one place.



Sweden vs. Finland



Saturday saw the tournament’s big matchups taking place — that is, the big rivalry games — and things kicked off with the matinee game between Sweden and Finland, and it was a thriller. Though they hit a bit of a bump in the road early as they failed to capitalize on an early power play, struggling to even get set up in the zone, the Swedes did seem to have the early edge in play, and capitalized on that before the midpoint of the period, when Mika Zibanejad got them on the board.



But the Finns weren’t going to let this game get away from them easily, like it did in their tournament opener against the Americans. They found the equalizer just two minutes later care of Anton Lundell, and added a backbreaker before the period was out — pulling into the lead on a power play goal from Mikko Rantanen with just 14 seconds left in the frame.



But, of course, we know that momentum can be a bit of a pendulum, and it swung back in favor of the Swedes to begin the second period. They saw a good number of their high-skilled forwards creating good looks through the early goings there, but in the end it was a pair of goals from their defensemen that pulled them back into the game. The first came from Rasmus Dahlin, as he dropped down into the crease and was able to chip in a rebound, and the second from Erik Karlsson on the rush. Just as we all predicted.



So the Swedes found themselves back in the lead, but not for long, as the Finns managed to respond with a goal of their own late in the period (this one from Aleksander Barkov) to tie things up again. And despite the best efforts of both sides, that’s a tie that held all the way through the final frame, brining about the need for overtime for the second time this tournament. Unlike the opener for Sweden, though, this one didn’t take long to settle. Inside the first two minutes, we saw Kevin Lankinen make a huge save on Adrien Kempe’s rush chance, lose the rebounded puck, but then have it picked up by Mikhail Granlund, who skated it all the way down to score on Linus Ullmark. And that was all she wrote.



Final: Finland 4 – Sweden 3 (OT)Next game up (FIN): Feb 17, 1:00 ET vs. CanadaNext game up (SWE): Feb 17, 8:00 ET vs. USA



USA vs. Canada



If we thought the opening game of the day was a spirited one, the evening matchup between the US and Canada took it to a whole other level. Right off the opening faceoff, Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel dropped the gloves. Once everything was settled down and the next faceoff was set, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett took their turns to square off. After this, a bit of action took place, but after a bit of a jam up in front of the net, Colton Parayko and JT Miller had their own bout of fighting. All told, this was three fights in the first nine seconds of the game, and a tone was certainly set.



But as far as the actual playing of hockey went, that was some good action too. Canada jumped out to an early lead on a goal from Connor McDavid that just felt inevitable, as he got going on the rush and created some separation from the American defenders. This was an early momentum swing in the Canadians’ favor, but it was one that ended up being relatively short-lived. Because, for as much firepower as the Canadians brought to this tournament, goaltending was always going to be their weakness, and it was exploited again in this one. The Americans were able to draw back even in this one just past the halfway point in the first period, on a goal from Jake Guentzel that was decidedly a pretty weak one for Jordan Binnington to give up.



Despite Canada’s best efforts to rally, the US as able to pull ahead in the second period, after Matt Boldy intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and sprung Dylan Larkin on the rush, and he was able to beat Binnington pretty cleanly with a shot one-on-one. And this, it would turn out, would be more or less all she wrote. Canada got the better of the shots in the third period, but couldn’t seem to find a way to solve Connor Hellebuyck. And despite a bit of pressure created with Binnington pulled, the Americans were able to score the empty netter (from Guentzel again) to well and truly put the game away.



Final: USA 3 – Canada 1Next game up (CAN): Feb 17, 1:00 ET vs. FinlandNext game up (USA): Feb 17, 8:00 ET vs. Sweden...

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