Olympic Men's Hockey: Finland Go To War With Sweden – And Win

MILAN, Italy - The Swedes will be sore about losing to their archrivals, but they're probably going to be even more sore in the morning after a vicious game against Finland here at the Olympics.

Finland won decisively over Sweden by a 4-1 score, getting offensive contributions from throughout the lineup. But the headline of the matchup was all about the physicality: This was old-time hockey, through and through.

"That was a really fun game to play," said defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. "Obviously we have a lot of history against Sweden, and we play them a lot, so there was a little extra emotion."

You could say that again. 

Where do we start? Maybe in the second period, when Finnish captain Mikael Granlund hit Elias Pettersson into the Finland bench. Or perhaps it was the normally gentlemanly Miro Heiskanen locking onto Mika Zibanejad's leg, taking a beating in the process, that landed both players in the penalty box. Or maybe it was the full-line scrum at the end of the second, which nearly resulted in an Anton Lundell-William Nylander fight.

Oh, it didn't stop there. In the third period, Roope Hintz nailed Philip Broberg, causing the big Swedish defenseman obvious discomfort in his right shoulder (Broberg did play more after that, so it wasn't debilitating). And Mikko Rantanen went to war with Victor Hedman, with Hedman crushing the big Finnish power forward three times – once from behind, which probably should have been a penalty.

"It's fun," Rantanen said. "It's not fun to get buried from behind, but it was a physical game, and we enjoy playoff-style hockey. That's what it was: every inch matters. Sometimes you get buried three in a row on the same shift, but you have to get up, take a breather and go at it again."

Rantanen sealed the victory with an empty-net goal late, but this one felt over midway through the third when Sweden failed to capitalize on a power play while down 3-1.

"It wasn't pretty, but once we got after their 'D' a little bit, then our skill took over," Ristolainen said. "But that's the compete level we have to bring every night, even a bit more."

Finland really needed this one. After dropping their first game to a surprising Slovakia squad, they would have been in a really tough position had they lost against Sweden. Instead, they got a shorthanded goal from Joel Armia and won the 5-on-5 battle; Sweden's only goal came from Rasmus Dahlin on the power play.

"When we got the chance, we buried the puck," Hintz said. "We had some good looks in the first game, too, but we couldn't score 5-on-5. Our 5-on-5 and penalty-killing was really good today."

Rantanen echoed those sentiments, while also giving props to goaltender Juuse Saros, who played very well for the Finns. They also blocked a bunch of shots in front of him, which is always nice for a netminder.

Now the Finns have only host Italy to play in the group stage, and a win there would put them in a solid seed for the next round. It also puts pressure on Sweden, as the Tre Kronor need a regulation win against Slovakia in order to keep their route to a medal easier.

But perhaps most importantly for Finland is that they played a stereotypically Finnish game and got a just result.

"Grinding, physical, in-your-face hockey," Rantanen said. "That's how we want to play: No time and space against us."

Let that be a warning for the rest of the teams in Milan.

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