Team Canada and Team Finland both entered yesterday’s game in must win situations. If the game went to overtime, then the winner would have to wait for the outcome of the United States vs. Sweden game.
The whole country can breathe a sigh of relief as Canada narrowly defeated Finland in yesterday’s afternoon game. Canada is going to face Team USA on Thursday night for the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Let’s take a look at some key points from yesterday’s game and why the championship game on Thursday is more than just a regular hockey game.
Power lines
Canada wanted to make a statement and Canada’s stars did exactly that. As he did on Saturday against the United States, Connor McDavid opened the scoring early in the first period. Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point each scored a goal and Canada went up 3–0 after the first period. Canada outshot Finland 11–5.
MacKinnon added another goal in the second period putting Canada up 4–0, which would be the eventual game winner. For the first 45 minutes of the game, Canada did not give Finland many opportunities. Jordan Binnington overall played a solid game in net for Canada, stopping 23 of 26 shots.
Mitch Marner has been quiet after scoring the overtime winner against Sweden. In yesterday’s game, Marner was “demoted” to the third line with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. It’s weird seeing Marner play next to two Tampa Bay Lightning players who have dominated the Maple Leafs in the playoffs in recent memory. But as a shutdown line, they all played an excellent game against Finland. Marner in particular was strong on the only penalty kill of the game. As we’ve seen on the Maple Leafs, Marner killed valuable time in Finland’s zone on the penalty kill.
Good news for Canada is that Cale Makar returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s game with an illness. While he did not record a point, Makar blocked four shots and had a team-high ice time of 23:57. He was the dominant force on the back end that we’re used to seeing in Colorado.
Canada bent but did not break
Naturally, as a Maple Leafs fan, I have a lot of trauma with teams wearing a maple leaf and holding 3rd-period leads in high-pressure games at TD Garden. Even after Finland made the game 4–1, Canada did a good job at keeping Finland’s offence in check. Canada stymied any offence that Finland would try to generate.
However, with two minutes left in the game, Finland scored two goals in 23 seconds, making the game a nail-biter. Fortunately, Sidney Crosby scored the empty-netter after hitting Finland’s Mikael Granlund, who scored two goals earlier in the third period, to bring the blood pressure down.
While some will criticize Binnington for the game being closer than it should have been, I don’t think he’s to blame. Finland got some bounces and Canada did not pressure Finland like we saw in the previous 45 minutes. It is unknown whether Binnington will start on Thursday. However, starting Adin Hill who hasn’t played in the tournament doesn’t seem likely.
National pride
Thursday’s game is more than a typical international hockey competition. Underpinning the championship game is the rising political tension between Canada and the United States over trade tariffs. President Trump has gone further in recent months by making comments about Canada being the 51st state.
Since the tariffs and sovereignty comments, there has been a rising patriotism and self-preservation in Canada that has been largely absent for decades. This mindset has been on full display throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Fans have been booing the American national anthem and United States captain Auston Matthews as a form of protest. It’s important to note that these boos are not against the players themselves, but against political leaders (and in Matthews’ case, he gets extra boos for being the captain of a hated rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs).
While not at the same scale, the current situation is reminiscent of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. The eight-game series had political tensions with the Cold War and a battle of political ideologies: communism and democracy. The series was tied heading into Moscow for the final game where Paul Henderson scored the game-winning goal in the final seconds to give Canada the victory.
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There has not been an international best-on-best since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. After being starved for nearly a decade, fans are going to be rewarded with a possible game of the year between Canada and the United States at TD Garden.
