Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola sustained an injury after blocking a shot in Finland’s 4-1 win over Sweden, which forced the 29-year-old to hobble to the dressing room, and his injury status is unknown.
Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola appeared to sustain an injury in Finland’s 4-1 win over Sweden.
Mikkola hobbled to Finland’s dressing room after blocking a shot, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. Mikkola has logged big minutes for Finland and has also done so for the Panthers.
Both the Finns and the Panthers can ill-afford to see Mikkola go down with an injury for any period of time.
As of now, Mikkola’s injury status has not been updated, but the hope is that he can return to the Finnish lineup soon.
In their 4-1 win over Sweden, Mikkola registered his first Olympic point, adding an assist on Anton Lundell’s goal. Eetu Luostarinen also recorded an assist on Lundell’s goal, with all three Panthers Finnish representatives picking up points on the same goal.
Lundell’s goal proved to be the difference maker for Finland. Lundell’s marker came with the Finns up 1-0 in the first period, and it served as the game-winning goal. Buffalo Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin scored a power play goal for Sweden in the second period to cut the lead in half, but another two unanswered goals by Finland were enough to secure the win and begin to erase the upset loss to Slovakia.
Finland is in action in their final group stage game tomorrow, taking on the hosts, Italy.
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