Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead goal with 35.2 seconds left after Shea Theodore tied it midway through the third period and Canada survived another scare at the Olympics, rallying to beat Finland 3-2 in the semifinals on Friday night and advance to the men’s gold-medal game.
Theodore’s shot through traffic beating Juuse Saros with 9:26 left in regulation brought the bench and a crowd full of red and white back to life after going quiet when Mikko Rantanen scored first for Finland, which then went up by two on Erik Haula’s shorthanded goal. MacKinnon’s power play goal set off a celebration as the team from the birthplace of the sport will look to win its third consecutive title at the Games when NHL players participate.
The Canadians had tilted the ice toward Saros since Haula scored. They outshot Finland 14-3 in the second period when Sam Reinhart got them on the board with a tip of Cale Makar’s shot, and Theodore scored on their ninth shot of the third, seconds after Brad Marchand was on top of Saros following a shove from Haula.
Connor McDavid, wearing the “C” in the absence of injured captain Sidney Crosby, made a perfect saucer pass over Finland penalty killer Roope Hintz’s stick to MacKinnon for another memorable goal for Canada in Milan.
It held up on video review after Finland challenged that the play was offside.
Moments before MacKinnon scored, Saros made a nifty blocker save to deny the Colorado Avalanche star, who was high-sticked by Niko Mikkola to put Canada on the power play. Saros also made several more big stops before MacKinnon tucked the puck in short side with Macklin Celebrini setting a screen by jumping.
Canada’s stacked lineup, even missing Crosby, eventually broke through the Finnish trap that slows players down and intercepts the puck before an opponent can go deep into the offensive zone. Instead of getting frustrated, some of the best players on the roster led the way, with Celebrini shooting just about every chance he had.
The comeback kept alive the possibility of an all-North America gold-medal game a year after Canada and the U.S. met in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off following their epic matchup earlier in that NHL and NHLPA-run tournament.
The U.S. still has to hold up its end of the bargain to make that happen. The unbeaten Americans face Slovakia in the second semifinal on Friday night.
