Associated Press
BOSTON — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice. Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist. Sidney Crosby flipped in an empty-netter from center ice after Finland cut a four-goal deficit to one in the final minutes.
Canada’s best players came through in the 4 Nations Face-Off on Monday to earn a rematch of their fight-filled preliminary bout with the United States. The rivals will meet in the tournament final.
“That’s what you need: big plays from big-time players,” Crosby said after a 5-3 victory over Finland. “These guys are used to playing in these big games under the spotlight and delivering. They did again tonight.”
Canada and the United States will play Thursday night in a sequel to a round-robin game in Montreal last week that started with three fights and ended with the Americans celebrating a 3-1 victory. Canadian forward — and Boston Bruins captain — Brad Marchand will take the ice as an opponent at the TD Garden in a series in which fans had to be asked not to boo the opponents’ national anthem.
“We’re obviously really excited about [having] another crack at these guys. It’s going to be an intense game, for sure,” Marchand said in the visitors locker room, down the hall from the one where he has changed for the past 16 seasons.
“There’s no bigger rivalry in hockey than Canada-U.S., and I think it’s the matchup that everybody wanted,” Marchand said. “So it’s going to be an extremely intense game, one we’re all going to be looking forward to.”
Jordan Binnington stopped 23 shots for Canada on the same ice where he clinched the 2019 Stanley Cup Final for the St. Louis Blues. Brayden Point also scored and Sam Reinhart had three assists as the Canadians opened a 4-0 lead in the first 25 minutes.
The tournament is the NHL’s return to international competition after sitting out the 2018 and 2022 Olympics. It delivered last week’s intense U.S.-Canada game against a backdrop of frosty real-world relations between the countries, spurred by President Donald Trump’s talk of tariffs — or even turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state.
The Americans were set to play Sweden on Monday night in a game that lost any meaning once Canada clinched the second spot in the final. The U.S. won both of its previous round-robin games, earning the top spot in the pool.
After fiery play in Montreal last week, Monday’s game was preceded by tepid booing during the Canadian national anthem and all of the intensity of a midwinter NHL game between two teams with interim coaches.
And then, the Finns found life.
Esa Lindell scored with seven minutes left to make it 4-1, and then Mikael Granlund scored twice in the final 100 seconds with the Finnish goalie off for an extra attacker. Crosby ended the suspense when he flipped a loose puck from center ice into an empty net.
“Got a couple of goals there late and came really close, but not today,” Finnish forward Aleksander Barkov said. “Obviously, it’s not an easy task to come back from a 4-0 deficit against maybe the best team in the world. So I think we did well there at the end. But the rest of the 50 minutes we could have and should have probably played a little better.”
McDavid opened the scoring just four minutes in and then MacKinnon made it 2-0 less than a minute later. Before five minutes had elapsed, the Finns had used their timeout in an attempt to settle things down.
Point gave the Canadians a 3-0 lead late in the first, and then MacKinnon made it 4-0 five minutes into the second.
That was all for Finnish goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who stopped five of nine shots in all.
Juuse Saros made 14 saves the rest of the way.
Binnington stopped Finland’s first 19 shots before Lindell scored to end the bid for what would have been the first shutout of the tournament. With Saros pulled for an extra attacker, Granlund scored a pair of goals to make it 4-3 with 1:17 left.
