

For the first time at the 2025 IIHF Men's World Championship, Team Canada is taking home a loss.
On Monday, Team Finland bested Team Canada, 2-1, in a shootout. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held pointless, and he was shut down by Finnish goaltender Juuse Saros on his shootout attempt.
Canadian goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves on 21 shots, while Saros was phenomenal, saving 37 of 38.
It was a tight-checking game from start to finish, but the Canadians did have their chances. They finally capitalized near the end of the second period, when Ryan O'Reilly capitalized on a shorthanded two-on-one opportunity to make it 1-0.
But Finland got the equalizer seven minutes into the third period, when Patrik Puistola put one past Fleury to tie the game. Puistola also scored on Finland's first shootout attempt, which was met with a response from Team Canada forward Kent Johnson in the second round.
Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen scored in the third round for Finland, and Crosby missed on his attempt in response. In IIHF play, the shootout goes five rounds, and Fleury stymied Finland's last two attempts. Nathan MacKinnon and Adam Fantilli had chances to capitalize for Canada, but they did not pull through, which gave Finland the 2-1 win.
As it stands now, Sweden is the only remaining undefeated team at the tournament, and Canada will face them Tuesday at 2:20 EDT. Sweden has surrendered a tournament-best three goals total, while Canada is tied for third in goals-for with 29.
Tuesday is the final day of preliminary round play before the elimination rounds begin on Thursday.
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<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> captain Sidney Crosby had not played in the IIHF Men's World Championship since 2015, when he captained Team Canada to gold in Prague.
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