{"id":480637,"date":"2026-02-20T21:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/480637\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T21:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:46:08","slug":"nathan-mackinnon-and-canada-rally-to-beat-finland-and-reach-the-olympic-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/480637\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan MacKinnon and Canada rally to beat Finland and reach the Olympic final"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Falling behind for a second consecutive game at the Olympics<\/a>, after never trailing throughout group play, Canada dug itself an even deeper hole in the semifinals<\/a> against Finland.<\/p>\n

Down two goals against an opponent also full of NHL players, the tournament favorite did not look the slightest bit shook.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t really any panic,\u201d center Nick Suzuki said. \u201cWe were going to get our chances eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, the most talented roster in Milan buried those chances. Sam Reinhart deflected Cale Makar\u2019s shot in to start the comeback, Shea Theodore tied it on a blast through traffic and Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead goal with 35.2 seconds left to advance to the gold medal game with a 3-2 victory Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could definitely feel the sense of calm, having been through that before,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cWe understood we were in a tough spot, and we had to find a way to get out of it. And we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makar thought he and his teammates were more comfortable down 2-0 against Finland than when they fell behind against Czechia twice<\/a> in the quarterfinals, including with seven minutes left.<\/p>\n

It showed. After Erik Haula scored shorthanded to make it a two-goal deficit early in the second period, Canada outshot Finland 31-8 the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Juuse Saros was terrific in net for Finland, and Canada coach Jon Cooper was worried only about getting shut out by a hot goaltender. Reinhart\u2019s goal with 4:40 left in the second cut some of the tension, and it was clear the game was turning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely felt the momentum shift a little bit,\u201d forward Sam Bennett said. \u201cWe thought our pressure was good. It was just a relentless pressure that we knew eventually we\u2019d be able to crack them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper was also glad his players didn\u2019t want until three minutes left to tie it like in the quarterfinals. Theodore\u2019s goal came with 9:26 left in regulation after Brad Marchand was on top of Saros following a shove from Haula.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrad\u2019s being Brad, and I like to have Brad,\u201d Cooper said of Marchand, who got pushed but didn\u2019t do much to stop falling into the opposing goalie.<\/p>\n

Nathan MacKinnon took over late, looking like a man on a mission and drawing a second high-sticking penalty on Niko Mikkola. On the ensuing power play, McDavid sent a perfect cross-ice saucer pass over penalty killer Roope Hintz\u2019s stick to MacKinnon, who sneaked the puck short side through a miniscule hole with Macklin Celebrini setting a screen by jumping.<\/p>\n

It held up on video review after Finland challenged that the play was offside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a five-man effort,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cConnor made an amazing play, Cale was doing his thing, Reino same thing. Obviously happy one squeaked in. Yeah, great pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada came back again without injured captain Sidney Crosby, who left the quarterfinal game<\/a> Wednesday night with an apparent right knee injury. McDavid wore the \u201cC\u201d<\/a> in Crosby\u2019s absence and had two assists to break the record for the most points by an NHL player at a single Olympics with 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a deep team with leaders all up and down the lineup,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who\u2019s wearing the \u2018C,\u2019 who\u2019s in the lineup, who\u2019s out of the lineup. Everybody can play a big role and lead, and you saw that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper said there\u2019s still time to decide if Crosby can play in the final on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s stacked lineup, even missing Crosby, eventually broke through the Finnish trap that slows players down and intercepts the puck before an opponent can go deep into the offensive zone. Instead of getting frustrated, some of the best players on the roster led the way, with Celebrini shooting just about every chance he had.<\/p>\n

Celebrini, Canada\u2019s youngest player at 19, put eight pucks on net himself. That\u2019s almost as many shots on goal Finland had as a team in the second and third periods combined, with nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen him play enough for a while,\u201d winger Mitch Marner said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of skill and a lot of confidence. He\u2019s not afraid of the big moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comeback kept alive the possibility of an all-North America gold-medal game a year after Canada and the U.S. met in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off following their epic matchup earlier in that NHL and NHLPA-run tournament.<\/p>\n

The U.S. still has to hold up its end of the bargain to make that happen. The unbeaten Americans faced Slovakia in the second semifinal on Friday night.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Falling behind for a second consecutive game at the Olympics, after never trailing throughout group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[190960,113110,20509,39393,69843,103,221831,6755,218570,4274,39780,13145,221830,45567,216129,5631,3234,95841,187671,32704,94674,99,45569],"class_list":{"0":"post-480637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","10":"tag-athlete-injuries","11":"tag-brad-marchand","12":"tag-cale-makar","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-erik-haula","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-jon-cooper","17":"tag-mitch-marner","18":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","19":"tag-nhl-hockey","20":"tag-nick-suzuki","21":"tag-olympic-games","22":"tag-olympic-hockey","23":"tag-pa-state-wire","24":"tag-pennsylvania","25":"tag-sam-bennett","26":"tag-sam-reinhart","27":"tag-sidney-crosby","28":"tag-slovakia","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-winter-olympic-games"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}