Finland hung in there for 40 minutes, but in the end, the USA were just too strong.
After Samuel Montembeault watched the Canada-Sweden game from the press gallery, two Montreal Canadiens got to take an active role in yesterday's match between the USA and Team Finland. Patrik Laine was used on the second line alongside Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintz while Joel Armia skated on a line with Erik Haula and Teuvo Teravainen.
The Finns put on a good fight for 40 minutes and were only down 2-1 at the start of the final frame, but the Americans (and particularly Brady and Matthew Tkachuk) were absolutely dominant in the final 20 minutes. After just three minutes, Uncle Sam's team lead 5-1 and they added a sixth and final goal on the power play.
Finland scored the first goal of the game through Henri Jokiharju, but it was their fans' only joyous moment. Laine got just under 16 minutes of ice time, had one shot, one hit, committed three giveaways, but did draw a penalty.
As for Armia, he was the least used player by coach Antti Pennanen with just under 10 minutes of ice time. He was also used on the second penalty kill, although not for a couple of occasion since he earned himself a couple of trips to the penalty box. Throughout the game, he had one shot on goal and one hit, making a limited impact.
While the Bell Centre crowd was clearly behind its two players and firmly against the Americans (not so much because of their players but rather because of what's going on in the world today), the Americans showed why many experts see them as the tournament's favourite.
Each country has now played one game and the Finns are the only team without a point. Even though Sweden lost against Canada, they still got a point by managing to take the match to OT.
They should have extra motivation for their next game however, since there is a heated rivalry between the two countries. Asked about it, Laine said:
We hate them, that's pretty much it. [...] It's always been a rivalry. It doesn't matter if it's hockey or everything else, we'll try to be better than them. I feel like it's kind of the same as the U.S.-Canada kind of thing, so it will be cool to play against those guys and hopefully beat them
Will the hatred be enough to guide them to a victory over a Swedish side that looked rather strong against Canada on Wednesday night? It remains to be seen. They'll be the first act on rivalry Saturday, they'll faceoff at 1:00 PM before the highly awaited clash between Canada and Team USA at 8:00 PM.
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