Arttu Ruotsalainen scored twice in regulation time and then the shootout winner as Finland defeated Canada 3-2 to open the last day of the group stage of the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
“He’s a really good player,” Finnish defenceman Hannes Bjorninen said about Ruotsalainen. “He’s scored many great goals for us and he did today. He’s so important for us.”
“If feels good to come out with a victory,” said Finnish goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, who stopped 32 of 34 Canadian shots in the game, then two of five in the shootout. “Every win gives us confidence that our system and our guys are good enough especially tough ones like today. It’s been a fun ride so far and I can’t wait for the rest of the week.”
After uncharacteristically starting the tournament with three straight losses, the Canadians knew they’d have to be close to perfect from that point forward if they were to advance from Group B. They won three in a row and were four minutes from a fourth win, which would have secured a quarter-final berth. But a single point puts their situation in limbo, now needing to wait for the outcome of tonight’s Latvia-Germany game to know their fate.
“I thought we played well,” said Canadian forward Brandon Pirri. “It’s unfortunate we got to the point we’re in with a waiting game. Hopefully things will be all right. A lots of fingers crossed.”
The Finns, who already had their quarter-final spot secured, could have wrapped up top spot in the group with a regulation win. The two points means they’ll have outcome of the USA-Italy game to see if they finish first or second.
The shots on goal through 65 minutes of hockey were 34-31 in Canada’s favour.
“Our message was to just play our game,” said Canadian captain Adam Henrique, who was held off the scoresheet today but finished the group stage tied for the tournament scoring lead with nine points. “We cannot overlook anybody. It’s a bit of a different game coming over here especially for the first time. We got better as the tournament went on. Our guys have done a good job and it has been a lot of fun.”
Canada stormed out of the gate, opening the scoring just 90 seconds in. Mario Ferraro won a battle for the puck in the corner and Gabriel Vilardi made a cross-ice pass to Brandon Pirri, who one-timed it toward the open side. Olkinuora desperately reached across and got his glove on it, but it deflected into the roof of the net.
“I think this was our best game so far. We competed hard,” said Ferraro. “I thought we did a pretty good job. A couple of times later in the game we gave up some chances we didn’t want to, probably should have been a bit tighter, been smarter with the puck. Overall, we showed a lot of urgency and were hard on pucks.”
And the Canadians kept coming. Moments later, a high shot from Troy Stecher was deflected in front and hit the inside of Olkinuora’s pad and bounced just wide. More chances were to come on a power play later in the period. Canada outshot Finland 18-5 in the opening 20 and generally dominated, but the score stayed 1-0.
After the lacklustre start, Finland was noticeably stronger to start the second period, and tied the score 71 seconds in on a great solo effort by Ruotsalainen. The Buffalo Sabres rookie rushed up the middle of the ice and, after crossing the blueline, unleashed a wrister that tipped off the bottom of Darcy Kuemper’s glove and in.
With the Finns pressing hard two minutes later, Bjorninen knocked down a puck and drove hard to the net, trying to stuff it in the short side but Kuemper denied him.
“Canada came hard and the second period was key for us,” said Olkinuora. “We showed that we can really play. I thought it was a hard-fought game and Canada is a good team.”
But Finland’s momentum was interrupted by a Canadian power play a few minutes later, where the red and white regained the lead. The play was started and finished by Maxime Comtois. First he blocked a hard clearing attempt behind the net, then went to the front of the net and shovelled in Connor Brown’s centring pass at 28:18. It was Brown’s 10th point of the tournament and Andrew Mangiapane’s eighth.
Finland went back to pressing for the rest of the period and got some good looks on a power play, but it was still 2-1 Canada through 40 minutes.
The third period began more conservatively that the first two periods, but as time became more of a factor, Finland began pressing more for the equalizer. With 6:30 to go, a shoot-in went off the skate of the referee along the boards and bounced dangerously in front of the unguarded Canadian goal, with Kuemper headed behind the net to stop the clear in, then diving back desperately when he saw the change in direction.
The Finns tied it with exactly four minutes to play. This time it was a great rush by Anton Lundell, protecting the puck well and then feeding a backhand pass to Ruotsalainen, who buried his second of the game.
“He scored two goals in this game and another in the penalty shootout, you can’t ask for more as a coach,” said Finnish head coach Jussi Jalonen.
“Their whole line was good,” Jalonen said of Ruotsalainen, Lundell and Niko Ojamaki. “They didn’t give up any scoring chances to Canada and they had 4 or 5 themselves.”
Overtime solved nothing, but it was back and forth, with chances at both ends. Nick Paul had a half an empty net to shoot at but missed, then Finland failed to convert on a 2-on-nothing break.
In the shootout, Finland got goals from Oliwer Kaski, Saki Maenalainen and Ruotsalainen, who started to the right and then beat Kuemper with a shot inside the far post. Canada got shootout goals from Pirri and Henrique. Their last shooter was Brown, who was stopped by Olkinuora to end the game.
The two remaining Group B games will determine both teams’ finishing places, but that’s a lot more crucial for Canada. For the Canadians to advance, they need Latvia-Germany to be decided in regulation time, one way or the other.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we needed to make things easier,” said Henrique. “Unfortunately, that’s the way it has been for us so far. Hopefully we get some help tonight.”
Jalonen has realistic expectations about USA vs Italy.
“I don’t think there will be a surprise,” the Finnish coach smiled. “USA will win for sure, so we’ll finish second, which is okay. Everybody knows that the eighth game is the most decisive game in the tournament.”
