Finland answered the bell, after a disastrous 4 Nations Face-Off opening game, coming out with a critical 4-3 overtime win over Sweden on Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre. Forward Mikael Granlund scored the game-winning goal just under two minutes into overtime, opting to shoot on a two-on-one rush with defenseman Niko Mikkola.
Sweden in sharp contrast suffered the same fate as in the opening game against Canada, an overtime loss with a 4-3 final score. Forward Adrian Kempe had come close to ending it against Finland seconds before Granlund’s goal, when he powered to the Finnish net, pushing the puck through starter Kevin Lankinen’s legs through the crease. Mikkola collected the loose puck and sprung Granlund, leading to the game’s dramatic conclusion.
Game Recap
Finland went with Lankinen in net, after Juuse Saros had surrendered six goals against the USA in their tournament-opening loss. Sweden meanwhile replaced starter Filip Gustavsson, who had played well in a 4-3 overtime loss to Canada, with Linus Ullmark after Finland had gone up 2-1 on a Mikko Rantanen power-play goal late in the first period. Gustavsson had made two saves on four shots. Ullmark allowed two goals on 17 shots. Lankinen ended the game with 21 saves on 24 shots.
“I feel like the intensity of tonight’s game was better. The first game of the tournament, maybe we were in our shell, not as confident,” said Rantanen, who acknowledged the importance of the win. “That’s the big thing about winning this game, because now it’s in our own hands.”
Finland put itself in position to potentially leapfrog Canada when the two teams face each other in their respective round-robin finales on Feb. 17 in Boston. Even if Canada were to beat the USA in regulation in their Saturday-night game, Finland’s two hypothetical wins would draw them even, the tiebreaker based on head-to-head results. Following their overtime win over Sweden, Canada currently has two points as well.
Sweden, now with two points after their two overtime losses, meanwhile faces the USA on Monday. Against Finland, Sweden managed to take a 3-2 lead after the first following second-period goals by defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson. However, Finland tied it up in the dying minutes of the frame when captain Aleksander Barkov converted an Olli Maatta pass into the crease, which Kaapo Kakko got a stick on as well.
Related: Guide to the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off
Barkov almost put Finland ahead after taking a hooking penalty on Elias Pettersson a few minutes into the third. After Finland killed it off, exiting the penalty box he caught a breakaway only to slide it wide of Ullmark.
“Obviously, losing 6-1 is not great, but we knew we did a lot of good things,” Barkov said after the game. “So, we just had to learn from that game, take all the good things we did, move on to do them in this game a little better. I think we executed really well.”
Finland proceeded to take over the game with a flurry of great chances, none better than Roope Hintz’s after the forward found himself in all alone on Ullmark after the puck deflected right to him off a skate. Neither he nor his teammates could find the back of the net in regulation though, leading to overtime and Granlund’s winner.