'Be Yourself, And Play For The Country': Canada Wins Do-Or-Die Game, Forces Finland To Change Goalies

Canada had a strong lead over Finland in the first half of Monday's matinee game and survived a comeback attempt to clinch a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final.

Team Canada had a commanding start to survive a late comeback attempt from Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Canada took a 4-0 lead over Finland in the first half of the do-or-die game. Finland scored three times in the final seven minutes of regulation, but Sidney Crosby sealed the deal with an empty-net goal.

The Canadians won in regulation to clinch a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final against the United States. Although they had leads in their previous two games in the tournament, this was Canada's first regulation win.

"Be yourself, and play for the country," Canada coach Jon Cooper told the players in the dressing room pre-game. "Play for the guys sitting in this room. That's all you got to do. Let's let everything unfold the way it is. It's all the little moments that will create one big huge moment. That's why we're here. Let's go make the country proud."

Connor McDavid kicked off the scoring for Canada for the second time in the past two games. He prevented Finland's clearance by stopping the puck at the blueline, and he walked in the zone, circled around and shot the puck past the glove side of goaltender Kevin Lankinen.

Less than a minute later, Brandon Hagel won a puck battle, and Sam Reinhart flipped the puck to MacKinnon for a mini-breakaway, scoring to make it 2-0. Finland called a timeout to reset.

Brayden Point then capitalized on a rebound off Mark Stone's shot to increase the lead to 3-0 at the 13-minute mark. MacKinnon added his second goal of the game on another assist from Sidney Crosby in the second period to make it 4-0.

That goal prompted Finland coach Antti Pennanen to pull Lankinen for Juuse Saros after four goals on 13 shots. Saros played Finland's first game against Team USA but allowed six goals on 32 shots, while Lankinen backstopped the team to an overtime win against Sweden.

Like Cooper said about little moments, little aspects of Canada's game led to the goals, which brought the team to a rematch with the Americans on Thursday.

"We're creating turnovers and jumping on them," Brayden Point told Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas at the first intermission. "They're a super-structured team, really good defensively, so hopefully we can just keep using our legs and try to get more chances."

Finland had to come back against Sweden twice in Saturday's win after trailing 1-0 and 3-2. Overcoming this deficit would have been the biggest comeback of the tournament so far.

Defenseman Esa Lindell ended Canada goalie Jordan Binnington's shutout bid 13 minutes into the third period. He turned the puck over by chipping it toward Artturi Lehkonen. Lehkonen passed back to Lindell, who beat Binnington blocker side.

Mikael Granlund, who scored Finland's overtime-winner against Sweden, cut the deficit to two goals with less than two minutes to go in regulation. In a net-front scramble, Patrik Laine collected the puck and fed Granlund for a one-timer that beat Binnington in the five-hole.

Twenty-three seconds later, Granlund scored again by finding an open area in the slot, receiving a pass from Aleksander Barkov and firing the puck into the top-left corner.

Finland almost succeeded in tying the match, and they pulled Saros for the extra attacker once again with about a minute left. Granlund tried to receive a pass at center ice and dump the puck into Canada's zone, but Crosby bodychecked him and sent the biscuit into the empty net.

Canada held 2-0 and 3-1 leads against Sweden in the tournament opener last Wednesday, but Sweden tied the game at 3-3. Mitch Marner scored in overtime.

McDavid also scored first against Team USA, but the Americans scored twice and added an empty-netter. 

This time, Canada held on.

Monday night's game between the United States and Sweden will finish the preliminary round, but the final is set. Team USA and Canada will face off again in Boston on Thursday.

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