Finnish goalie stonewalls Canada for world gold
Canada had to settle for silver at the world hockey championship after a 3-1 loss to Finland in Sunday’s final.
Finnish captain Marko Anttila’s second goal of the game broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period as the Finns defeated Canada for a second time at the tournament.
Harri Pesonen added an insurance goal with four minutes to play and goaltender Kevin Lankinen made 42 saves.
Shea Theodore had Canada’s only goal and Matt Murray made 19 saves.
The gold is Finland’s first at the tournament since 2011.
Canada’s silver pushes its medal tally to four over the last five years.
Theodore gave Canada a 1-0 lead with 9:58 left to play in the first. The 23-year-old defenceman picked up a feed from forward Anthony Mantha near the Finnish blue-line, then jetted down the slot before depositing the puck high over the glove of Lankinen.
Anttila tied the game early in the second period on a power play.
Anttila came through again with his second of the game 2:35 into the third, igniting the pro-finland crowd in sold-out Ondrej Nepela Arena with a high shot that beat Murray. Pesonen added an insurance goal with 4:06 left to play in the third.
Canada came from behind with late goals to win games against Slovakia and Switzerland earlier in the tournament and kept the pressure on during the dying minutes. But Lankinen was there to stop them.
Finland opened its tournament by handing the Canadians their only loss of the preliminary round and ultimately finished second in the Group A standings behind Canada. Earlier Sunday, Russia beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in a shootout for bronze.