Former San Jose Sharks forward Mikael Granlund scored the overtime goal for Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off, helping his nation to a 4-3 victory over Sweden. Finland's alternate captain, Granlund, assisted in a 6-1 loss to Team USA, giving Finland its first two points of the tournament. The 3-2-1-0 points system has changed the dynamic, with Sweden, Finland, and Canada all having two points. Canada still plays its second game, but a regulation loss to the Americans could make Monday's games more exciting.
Mikael Granlund saves Finland at 4 Nations face-off
Finland defeated Sweden 4-3 in a classic back-and-forth game at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner, sending fans cheering and chanting "Suomi!" as Finland's blue and white fans exited the game. "It's always great to beat Sweden," Mikael Granlund said in his postgame media availability.
Finland's Anton Lundell and Mikko Rantanen scored, while Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in his NHL debut, including a pad stop on Mika Zibanejad. Coach Antti Pennanen switched from Juuse Saros to Lankinen after Finland lost 6-1 to the US.
"I don't think we needed to do much, we knew that there was a lot of good things we did in the game against USA," Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said in his postgame interview on SportsNet. "Obviously, the result, 6-1, was not great, it did not look good. But I thought we did a lot of good things. And same thing today.”
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“The biggest game”: The USA-Canada hockey rivalry is set to be reintroduced and reignited at the 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday nightSweden's loss to Finland leaves the Finns in the final round-robin play, with one game left. The top two teams, U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Finland, will face each other in the championship game in Boston. Despite goals from Zibanejad and Rasmus Dahlin, Sweden may need help to make the final. Filip Gustavsson was pulled after allowing two goals in the first period.
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