Crew Canada was in a must-win scenario on Monday as they took on Crew Finland on the 4 Nations Face-Off on Monday afternoon. A 3-point win would have despatched them to the championship recreation, whereas a loss would have put them out. The group Canadians had been ready to point out up did, and with a 5-3 win over Finland at TD Backyard, it units up a extremely anticipated rematch in opposition to Crew USA.
HERE WE GO ?
CANADA VS. USA FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!
?: #4Nations Face-Off Championship Recreation THURSDAY at 8p ET on @espn, @ESPNPlus, @Sportsnet and @TVASports pic.twitter.com/JmFZABtVbO
— NHL (@NHL) February 17, 2025
Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon led the way in which early, scoring on consecutive pictures simply 46 seconds aside throughout the recreation’s first 5 minutes. They prolonged the result in 4-0 earlier than Finland scored to make it 4-1. Crew Finland added two extra in 6-vs-5 play earlier than Crosby scored an empty-net purpose to seal issues for Canada.
Canada managed many of the recreation and can be a lot happier with how they performed. The group shuffled their strains forward of the competition and gave the impression to be cruising to a straightforward win, earlier than Finland’s late push. Jordan Binnington was excellent in web till Esa Lindell broke the shutout with 6:41 left within the third interval. Mikael Granlund then shocked the Canadian bench by scoring twice in a 23-second span with an additional attacker. That’s as shut as Finland received.
McDavid completed with a purpose and an help, whereas MacKinnon additionally registered two factors within the victory.
Cale Makar returned to motion after lacking the earlier recreation in opposition to the US as a result of sickness. The star defenseman logged a team-high 23:57 of ice time, fired 4 pictures on purpose, blocked 4 pictures, and confirmed no lingering results from his absence.
Crew Finland Left A number of Unanswered Questions
Finland’s offensive struggles all through the match in the end proved to be their undoing. Their big-name stars failed to point out up, as Aleksander Barkov and Mikko Rantanen every scored as soon as, and forwards Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, and Patrik Laine had been held scoreless. In equity, their blue line was decimated coming into the match, which definitely performed an element.
In the meantime, Canada’s offensive changes made a distinction. The brand new prime line of Connor McDavid, Mark Stone, and Brayden Level produced two of the primary three targets. In the meantime, MacKinnon’s second line meant completely different combos had been pushing Finland, which their protection couldn’t deal with.
Canada will now face the US within the ultimate.
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