Ducks forward Mikael Granlund battles for bronze with Finland after a tough Olympic semi-final loss. Will he help secure a medal?
With the number of days left in the 2026 Winter Olympics dwindling, the men’s ice hockey tournament now has its medal matches set for the weekend. Friday’s two semi-final games were Finland vs. Canada in the morning and the United States vs. Slovakia in the afternoon (Pacific time).
The Anaheim Ducks are down to two Olympic participants: Finland’s Mikael Granlund and the US’s Jackson LaCombe. LaCombe, however, hasn’t suited up for any of the US’s first six games and doesn’t project to for the Americans’ final game.
Mikael Granlund (Finland vs. Canada)
Finland: 2, Canada: 3
For their biggest game of the tournament against their toughest opponent and the gold medal favorites, the Finnish coaching staff elected to shuffle their top two forward lines. Ducks forwards and Finland captain Mikael Granlund started on Roope Hintz’ wing and opposite Tuevo Teravainen, a line that was put together during their quarter-final matchup against Switzerland.
In a relatively back-and-forth first half of the game where Canada held a slight possession edge early, Finland was able to capitalize on a pair of opportunities to push Canada back on the ropes. Mikko Rantanen leaned on a puck won his way by Sebastian Aho after a faceoff that beat Jordan Binnington on the far side, and Erik Haula jumped on a chipped puck in the neutral zone that sprung him on a breakaway before beating Binnington on his backhand.
From the Haula goal until the final buzzer, game flow belonged to Canada. Finland did well early with their passive 1-2-2 neutral zone forecheck to string four or five bodies along the defensive blueline to disrupt and suppress Canada’s rush attack. They then were pushed on their heels further, and instead of pressing to match, their adjustment was to surrender the blueline and collapse all five skaters between the hash marks.
They tried to bend without breaking, but ultimately broke. Canada tied the game with roughly ten minutes left in the third period and won the game with roughly half a minute left on a power play.
Granlund’s performance encapsulated his team’s in this game. He was hunting early and often, providing a consistent forechecking, backchecking, and pressuring presence. He got some puck touches, but wasn’t able to build anything truly dangerous next to Teravainen and Hintz. He had an extremely disruptive defensive stick in the Finland zone, especially around the lower slot, further highlighting his scanning and anticipation skills.
The scoresheet eluded Granlund entirely in this game, as he finished with zero shots on goal, points, or penalty minutes in his 17:44 TOI.
Granlund and his Finland squad will take on Slovakia tomorrow, Saturday, at 11:30 AM PST, for the bronze medal, while the United States and Canada will go head-to-head for the gold on Sunday in the most anticipated international hockey game in 16 years, probably longer. Jackson LaCombe is not expected to dress, however, and will likely finish his first Olympics without seeing game action.