MILAN (AP) — Falling behind for a second consecutive game at the Olympics, after never trailing throughout group play, Canada dug itself an even deeper hole in the semifinals against Finland.
Down two goals against an opponent also full of NHL players, the tournament favorite did not look the slightest bit shook.
“There wasn’t really any panic," center Nick Suzuki said. "We were going to get our chances eventually.”
Then, the most talented roster in Milan buried those chances. Sam Reinhart deflected Cale Makar's shot in to start the comeback, Shea Theodore tied it on a blast through traffic and Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead goal with 35.2 seconds left to advance to the gold medal game with a 3-2 victory Friday night.
“You could definitely feel the sense of calm, having been through that before," McDavid said. “We understood we were in a tough spot, and we had to find a way to get out of it. And we did.”
Makar thought he and his teammates were more comfortable down 2-0 against Finland than when they fell behind against Czechia twice in the quarterfinals, including with seven minutes left.
It showed. After Erik Haula scored shorthanded to make it a two-goal deficit early in the second period, Canada outshot Finland 31-8 the rest of the way.
Juuse Saros was terrific in net for Finland, and Canada coach Jon Cooper was worried only about getting shut out by a hot goaltender. Reinhart's goal with 4:40 left in the second cut some of the tension, and it was clear the game was turning.
“We definitely felt the momentum shift a little bit," forward Sam Bennett said. “We thought our pressure was good. It was just a relentless pressure that we knew eventually we’d be able to crack them.”
Cooper was also glad his players didn't want until three minutes left to tie it like in the quarterfinals. Theodore's goal came with 9:26 left in regulation after Brad Marchand was on top of Saros following a shove from Haula.
Source: WPLG
