Team Finland erased the sting from Friday night's loss to Team Canada in the Olympic semifinals and responded with a dominant effort to claim bronze on Saturday in Milan.
MILAN — Finland didn’t just protect a two-goal lead this time. It obliterated the doubt that came with it.
24 hours after watching a 2–0 advantage dissolve against Canada in the semifinals, Finland authored a ruthless third-period surge — four goals in a span of controlled fury — to dismantle Slovakia 6–1 and seize bronze at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Saturday at Milano Santagiulia Arena.
There would be no repeat heartbreak this time. Just dominance.
What Happened
Erik Haula scored twice. Joel Armia delivered a three-point performance (one goal, two assists). Roope Hintz and Kaapo Kakko struck 42 seconds apart early in the third to break Slovakia’s resistance, and Juuse Saros turned aside 30 shots with calm authority.
By the final horn, Finland had transformed lingering frustration into emphatic closure.
The Finns, stung by surrendering a late lead in Friday’s 3–2 semifinal loss to Canada, played with purpose from the opening puck drop 7:27 into the opening period, Finland got on the board when Sebastian Aho knocked in a rebound by Samuel Hlavaj off a shot from Miro Heiskanen. It was Aho's team-leading fourth goal of the tournament and an early statement that Finland intended to finish the Olympics on a high note.
The Slovaks followed up with an opportunity with nearly seven minutes to go in the period when San Jose Sharks winger Pavol Regenda one-timed a pass from the slot, but his shot went wide of the cage.
Haula doubled the advantage early in the second, carrying the puck over the blue line and wiring a wrist shot high to the short side past Hlavaj. It was clinical, decisive — and briefly comfortable.
But comfort had betrayed Finland before.
Slovakia clawed back late in the period when their captain, Tomas Tatar, capitalized on a cruel carom. Martin Fehervary’s dump-in ricocheted awkwardly off the glass and kicked into the slot, where Tatar lifted a backhand over Saros’ pad with 30 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 2–1.
On a power play at 8:27 of the third, Hintz deflected Miro Heiskanen’s point shot past Hlavaj to restore a two-goal cushion. Forty-two seconds later, Kakko hammered a right-circle shot off the far post and in, stretching the lead to 4–1 and draining any remaining Slovak belief.
From there, Finland suffocated the game. Armia and Haula each added empty-net goals, punctuation marks on a performance that left no margin for suspense.
Saros, steady throughout, anchored the effort with 14 saves in the second period alone, weathering Slovakia’s push before Finland’s offensive avalanche buried it.
Tatar scored the lone goal for Slovakia, and Hlavaj made 29 saves in defeat. The Slovaks, who upset Finland 4–1 in the Olympic opener and fell 6–2 to the United States in the semifinals, could not rediscover the edge that defined their tournament’s early days.
Finland, meanwhile, reinforced its Olympic pedigree.
With the victory, the Finns claimed their fifth medal in the six Olympics featuring NHL players — silver in 2006 and bronze in 1998, 2010, 2014 and now 2026 — the most of any nation in that span. Their breakthrough gold came at the 2022 Beijing Games, a tournament played without NHL participation.
This year marked the return of NHL players to the Olympic stage for the first time since Sochi in 2014, and Finland once again proved it belongs among hockey’s global elite.
Forward Mikko Rantanen was scratched with a lower-body injury, but depth got the job done. Heiskanen and Eeli Tolvanen each contributed two assists, and Finland’s balance overwhelmed Slovakia when it mattered most.
No late collapse. No tears.
Just a hard-fought, bittersweet win that took away some of the sting from the night before.
