Rangers defenseman, Finland have tough afternoon being eliminated in 4 Nations loss to Canada
New York Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and the rest of Team Finland had a nightmarish Monday afternoon at TD Garden in Boston, where they saw their hopes of advancing to the championship game in the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off disappear in a 5-3 loss to Canada in the final round-robin game for both teams.
Vaakanainen, acquired by the Rangers on Dec. 6 in a trade that sent Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, was minus-3 in just 11:14 of ice time, beginning with the game’s first goal by Connor McDavid 4:13 after the opening face-off.
NHL scoring leader Nathan MacKinnon made it 2-0 just 46 seconds after McDavid’s goal and added another goal early in the second period for a 4-0 lead. Canada survived a late three-goal surge by Finland and advanced to the final on Thursday against the United States.
“It got a little scary at the end,” MacKinnon, named the Player of the Game, admitted on TNT.
The title game will be a rematch of Canada’s 3-1 loss to the Americans in Montreal on Saturday. That win assured the U.S. of a berth in the final regardless of what happens in its game against Sweden on Monday night. Vaakanainen’s Rangers teammate Chris Kreider will make his first appearance of the tournament in that game. Kreider replaces Matthew Tkachuk, who has a lower-body injury.
Vaakanainen and third-pairing partner Nikolas Matinpalo, a rookie defenseman with the Ottawa Senators, each had a game he’d like to forget. They were on the ice for two of Canada’s three goals in the first period, as well as MacKinnon’s second of the afternoon at 5:03 of the second.
That goal spelled the end of the afternoon for Kevin Lankinen, the Finnish goaltender who got the win Saturday in a 4-3 overtime victory against Sweden. He allowed four goals on 13 shots and looked little like the goalie who’ s helped save the Vancouver Canucks’ season while starter Thatcher Demko battled injuries.
Jordan Binnington made his third start in as many games for Canada, finishing with 23 saves. He lost his shutout with 6:41 remaining in the third period on a goal by Esa Lindell, and the Finns made it close on two sixth-attacker goals by Mikael Granlund before Sidney Crosby hit the empty net with 56 seconds remaining.
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Canada 5 – Finland 3
Finland actually got off to a decent start, mounting some pressure on Binnington in the first couple of minutes before things fell apart.
McDavid opened the scoring with his second of the tournament. Finnish center Roope Hintz made an awful clearing pass that McDavid picked off just inside the blue line. Vaakanainen had a good view as McDavid toyed with his partner and was given loads of time and space to cut in from the left boards before whipping a shot from the circle past Lankinen.
MacKinnon doubled the lead at 4:59 after a slick play by Sam Reinhart just inside Finland’s zone. His little chip pass sprung MacKinnon into open space inside the right circle, and the Colorado Avalanche star was left alone to beat Lankinen from the lower right circle.
The Vaakanainen-Matinpalo was victimized again at 13:02, when Canada made it 3-0 on a goal by Brayden Point. McDavid raced down the right wing and fed defenseman Travis Sanheim, who was coming down the middle. Lankinen stopped Sanheim’s shot but was left helpless when the rebound came right to Point for an easy putaway.
Canada continued its dominance through the remainder of the period, outshooting Finland 11-5.
The Nova Scotia duo of MacKinnon and Crosby combined to make it 4-0 just after the five-minute mark in the middle period. Crosby controlled the puck in the corner to the left of Lankinen and threaded a pass to MacKinnon, who had found a small gap in the defensive coverage. MacKinnon one-timed the pass behind a helpless Lankinen; Vaakanainen slammed his stick against the boards while Canada celebrated.
Juuse Saros, the losing goaltender in Finland’s 6-1 loss to the United States on Thursday in Montreal, replaced Lankinen. It didn’t help.
Finland got the game’s first power play when Devon Toews was sent off for slashing Finland’s Joel Armia but managed just one shot on goal. Former Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko, who was traded to the Seattle Kraken just before Christmas, was denied twice from close-in just after the power play ended.
Lindell got the Finns on the board at 13:19 of the third, beating Binnington with a shot from the right circle that caught the far corner. Finland pulled Saros for an extra skater with more than four minutes left and made it close when Granlund, the OT hero against Sweden, beat Binnington with 1:40 remaining and again with 1:17 to play.
But Crosby’s empty-netter from the red line, his first goal of the tournament, eased any anxious nerves among Canadian fans and sent Canada into the championship game.
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