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02/13 17:19 CST Finland earns feisty win over Sweden at Olympics as McDavid and
Crosby score in Canada's victory
Finland earns feisty win over Sweden at Olympics as McDavid and Crosby score in
Canada's victory
By KEN MAGUIRE
AP Sports Writer
MILAN (AP) --- Finland showed plenty of fight in reviving its Olympic campaign.
Joel Armia scored a short-handed goal and the Finns outmuscled archrival Sweden
in a 4-1 group-stage victory Friday --- 20 years after the sides squared off in
the gold medal game at the Turin Games.
Finland's win --- after losing its opener at the Milan Cortina Games to
Slovakia --- leaves the group's quarterfinal spot up for grabs Saturday.
"Everybody was fired up for this, and I'm sure they were, too," Finland
defenseman Olli Maatta said. "These are unbelievable games to play in, and I'm
very happy with the win today. We've just got to build off that."
The scrappy matchup featured pushing and shoving at the end of the second
period, even if the stakes were lower than the 2006 Turin Games final. Sweden
won that one, which still resonates today for both countries.
Friday's third period opened with three players in the penalty box for each
team --- five for roughing and one for holding.
Lundell to the rescue Anton Lundell scored in the first period and prevented a Sweden goal midway through the third --- with his team leading 3-1 --- when he swept the puck off the goal line. "I don't really know what happened, but all of sudden the puck was going in the net and I was lucky to be close and I was lucky that nobody pushed it in before me," the Florida Panthers center said. No one was happier than goalie Juuse Saros: "Obviously a big thanks to him." Saros made 34 saves.
Finland's hustle pays off The Finns outworked their rivals on the boards and were rewarded on a second-period penalty kill when Erik Haula shielded the puck from three Swedes and passed to Armia, who was alone in front of net to make it 3-1. Finland scored twice in the opening period before Sweden fought back with Rasmus Dahlin's power-play goal in the second to make it 2-1. Finland opened the scoring on its second shot on goal. Nikolas Matinpalo's wrist shot beat Filip Gustavsson glove side, hit the left post and went in. Gustavsson gave up two early goals against Italy in Sweden's opening 5-2 victory. The Finns doubled their lead thanks to hard work in the corner by Eetu Luostarinen, whose shot on net hit Panthers teammate Lundell's stick, went off Gustavsson and in. Finland killed off two third-period power plays before Mikko Rantanen's empty-net goal sealed the victory. Tensions frayed in the closing seconds of the end of the second period. Three helmets ended up on the ice after the horn blew. "You're down, you've got to do something to try to change the momentum," Sweden forward Adrian Kempe said, "so you just try to get in there and create or something just to turn our game around and fire your teammates up or fans or whatever it is."
McDavid scores in Canada's win over Switzerland Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby scored in a 5-1 victory over Switzerland as Canada improved to 2-0. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists. Thomas Harley and Macklin Celebrini also scored for the tournament favorite. McDavid scored his first Olympic goal when --- on a first-period power play --- he took a back-post pass from MacKinnon and beat goalie Akira Schmid with a wrist shot. About a minute later, Schmid made an acrobatic stop to deny Crosby on a breakaway by lifting his left skate in the air to block the Pittsburgh star's backhand attempt. McDavid added an assist when he fed Harley, who snapped a shot through Schmid's pads for a 2-0 lead midway through the first. Pius Suter tapped in a power-play goal for Switzerland in the first. Celebrini made it 3-1 early in the second by taking MacKinnon's pass and scoring from close range shortly after Canada killed off a penalty. The San Jose Sharks center, at 19 the youngest player on Canada's team, also scored Thursday in a win over Czechia. In the third, Crosby scored by redirecting a hard pass to the crease by Mitch Marner. MacKinnon made it 5-1 with just under seven minutes left when he slid home a rebound. Switzerland's loss was made worse by a leg injury to forward Kevin Fiala of the Los Angeles Kings late in the game. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Slovakia, Czechia get wins Adam Ruzicka's third-period goal stood as the winner in Slovakia's 3-2 victory over Italy. Matus Sukel and Libor Hudacek also scored for Slovakia, which improved to 2-0 to lead Group B ahead of Saturday's group-stage finale against Sweden. Dustin Gazley, whose goal cut the lead to 3-2 with 3:35 remaining, also assisted on Matt Bradley's goal for winless Italy. Gazley and Bradley are among Italy's group of foreign-born players. Italy plays Finland on Saturday. Czechia rebounded from its Group A opening loss to Canada by beating France 6-3. Louis Boudon scored twice for France, which led 3-2 on Hugo Gallet's second-period goal before Czechia took over. David Pastrnak's goal tied it at 3-all and Matej Stransky put the Czechs ahead late in the second. Filip Chlapik and Roman Cervenka scored in the third. Pastrnak assisted on Martin Necas' opener in the first, when Michal Kempny also scored. The U.S. is off and faces Denmark on Saturday in Group C. The three group winners in the 12-team tournament qualify directly to the quarterfinals, along with the best second-place team. The remaining teams enter a one-game playoff to join the final eight. ___ AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Lundell to the rescue Anton Lundell scored in the first period and prevented a Sweden goal midway through the third --- with his team leading 3-1 --- when he swept the puck off the goal line. "I don't really know what happened, but all of sudden the puck was going in the net and I was lucky to be close and I was lucky that nobody pushed it in before me," the Florida Panthers center said. No one was happier than goalie Juuse Saros: "Obviously a big thanks to him." Saros made 34 saves.
Finland's hustle pays off The Finns outworked their rivals on the boards and were rewarded on a second-period penalty kill when Erik Haula shielded the puck from three Swedes and passed to Armia, who was alone in front of net to make it 3-1. Finland scored twice in the opening period before Sweden fought back with Rasmus Dahlin's power-play goal in the second to make it 2-1. Finland opened the scoring on its second shot on goal. Nikolas Matinpalo's wrist shot beat Filip Gustavsson glove side, hit the left post and went in. Gustavsson gave up two early goals against Italy in Sweden's opening 5-2 victory. The Finns doubled their lead thanks to hard work in the corner by Eetu Luostarinen, whose shot on net hit Panthers teammate Lundell's stick, went off Gustavsson and in. Finland killed off two third-period power plays before Mikko Rantanen's empty-net goal sealed the victory. Tensions frayed in the closing seconds of the end of the second period. Three helmets ended up on the ice after the horn blew. "You're down, you've got to do something to try to change the momentum," Sweden forward Adrian Kempe said, "so you just try to get in there and create or something just to turn our game around and fire your teammates up or fans or whatever it is."
McDavid scores in Canada's win over Switzerland Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby scored in a 5-1 victory over Switzerland as Canada improved to 2-0. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists. Thomas Harley and Macklin Celebrini also scored for the tournament favorite. McDavid scored his first Olympic goal when --- on a first-period power play --- he took a back-post pass from MacKinnon and beat goalie Akira Schmid with a wrist shot. About a minute later, Schmid made an acrobatic stop to deny Crosby on a breakaway by lifting his left skate in the air to block the Pittsburgh star's backhand attempt. McDavid added an assist when he fed Harley, who snapped a shot through Schmid's pads for a 2-0 lead midway through the first. Pius Suter tapped in a power-play goal for Switzerland in the first. Celebrini made it 3-1 early in the second by taking MacKinnon's pass and scoring from close range shortly after Canada killed off a penalty. The San Jose Sharks center, at 19 the youngest player on Canada's team, also scored Thursday in a win over Czechia. In the third, Crosby scored by redirecting a hard pass to the crease by Mitch Marner. MacKinnon made it 5-1 with just under seven minutes left when he slid home a rebound. Switzerland's loss was made worse by a leg injury to forward Kevin Fiala of the Los Angeles Kings late in the game. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Slovakia, Czechia get wins Adam Ruzicka's third-period goal stood as the winner in Slovakia's 3-2 victory over Italy. Matus Sukel and Libor Hudacek also scored for Slovakia, which improved to 2-0 to lead Group B ahead of Saturday's group-stage finale against Sweden. Dustin Gazley, whose goal cut the lead to 3-2 with 3:35 remaining, also assisted on Matt Bradley's goal for winless Italy. Gazley and Bradley are among Italy's group of foreign-born players. Italy plays Finland on Saturday. Czechia rebounded from its Group A opening loss to Canada by beating France 6-3. Louis Boudon scored twice for France, which led 3-2 on Hugo Gallet's second-period goal before Czechia took over. David Pastrnak's goal tied it at 3-all and Matej Stransky put the Czechs ahead late in the second. Filip Chlapik and Roman Cervenka scored in the third. Pastrnak assisted on Martin Necas' opener in the first, when Michal Kempny also scored. The U.S. is off and faces Denmark on Saturday in Group C. The three group winners in the 12-team tournament qualify directly to the quarterfinals, along with the best second-place team. The remaining teams enter a one-game playoff to join the final eight. ___ AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
