Montreal Canadiens' sniper Patrik Laine had a big hand in Finland's win over Sweden.
To say Patrik Laine was struggling with the Montreal Canadiens prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off would be an understatement. Martin St-Louis demoted him from the second line that had been his home since he started his career in red, white and blue in December and he saw his ice time melt like ice cream in the sun.
The hope was the tournament would help him bounce back as he was slotted to play with Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho and Dallas Stars' Roope Hintz, but he failed to impress in the Finns' opening game against the USA. For the tilt against the Finnish's bitter rival Sweden, he was demoted to the third line and found himself skating alongside Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell.
Still, he found a way to make his mark especially in the first frame. After Mika Zibanejad had given the Swedes a 1-0 lead, Laine collected a puck in his own zone with two opponents rushing towards him and sent it to Luostarinen which lead to a two on one odd man rush. The latter passed to Lundell who beat Gustavsson to tie up the game.
Towards the end of the first frame, Sweden's captain Victor Hedman was sent to the box for a trip on Aho and the Finns were able to deploy their power play. Much like with the Canadiens' Laine's demotion didn't apply to the power play and from his usual spot on the left, he made a perfect cross zone pass to Mikko Rantanen who beat Gustavsson with a one-timer.
While he wasn't all that visible for the rest of the game, Laine ended his day's work with a plus-one rating, a shot on goal, one giveaway (down from three in the first game), and over 15 minutes of ice time. Meanwhile, former Hab Arturri Lehkonen was demoted from the first line, being the only Finn with a minus-two ratting and was replaced by Kaapo Kakko. As for Joel Armia, he was a healthy scratch, having failed to impress in the first game.
After three periods, the game was tied 3-3 but Mikael Granlund gave the Finns their first win of the tournament with an overtime goal. On Monday afternoon, they'll be taking on Canada and both teams will want a regulation win to book a place in the final. It will be interesting to see how Laine is deployed in this crucial game.
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