Montreal Canadiens' forward Joel Armia was back in the lineup as Finland was trying to book its place in the tournament's final.
After sitting out Finland's rivalry game on Saturday afternoon, Montreal Canadiens forward Joel Armia was back in the lineup as the Finns had to fight for their life in the tournament facing Team Canada.
With the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament having now moved to Boston for its last three games, the Canadiens and Finns played at 1:00 PM Monday while the Americans and the Swedes wrapped up the tournament's preliminary stage in the evening.
Before the game, Canada's coach Jon Cooper announced Jordan Binnington would get the start, even if there had been concern about his performance against the Americans, from everyone but Cooper apparently.
After a tough 3-1 loss to the Americans on Saturday night, the Canadians came out firing and were up 3-0 after 13 minutes of play. Montreal's sniper Patrik Laine was on the ice for one of the three goals and was just coming off the ice for another one, while Joel Armia was riding the pine.
The Canadians added a fourth goal in the middle frame when Nathan MacKinnon scored his second of the game. 10 minutes later, Armia drew the only penalty of the game when he was slashed by Devon Toews. The Finns were unable to capitalize on the opportunity.
It seemed like Canada would easily make the final with a 4-0 lead at the start of the third period which lasted until there were just under seven minutes left. Esa Lindell scored the Finns' first goal thanks to an assist from former Hab Artturi Lehkonen and five minutes later, with an extra skater on the ice, Mikael Granlund got Finland within two. Laine got his third assist of the tournament on the play.
20 seconds later, Granlund got his second of the game to close the gap to just one goal. The Finns had the momentum, but captain Canada Sidney Crosby got on the ice and obliterated Granlund with an open ice hit at centre ice before netting a goal in the empty net to put an end to the Finnish hopes.
Laine spent 16:39 on the ice, took one shot, missed three and was guilty of two giveaways. Over the course of the tournament, he picked up three assists in three games, but the international competition didn't allow him to bounce back as was hoped. After the first game, he was demoted to the third line and his play was affected by the same flaws that annoyed Martin St-Louis.
As for Armia, he was in the ice for 11:20, blocked one shot, had one hit, but also committed two giveaways. It's not a performance that will make the pending unrestricted free agent any more attractive on the trade market. Still, he has showed with the Canadiens he can be a key part of a penalty killing unit and he's generally very responsible defensively.
The Finns are now out of the tournament and on Thursday night, Canada will be taking on the USA in the final. Meanwhile, the Canadiens will resume practising tomorrow at 2:00 PM in Brossard after a much needed break. When they play the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, they'll be hoping to avoid a fourth consecutive loss. In the last 10 games, they've only won twice and took themselves out of the mix in the process...
Canadiens stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, never to miss a story.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.