Canada beats Finland 5-3 to set up rematch with United States in 4 Nations Face-Off final

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Boston, Massachusetts (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid each scored a goal and had an assist as Canada took a four-goal lead and held on to defeat Finland 5-3 on Monday, securing a rematch against the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off finals.

On the same ice where he won the 2019 Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues, Jordan Binnington blocked 23 shots, allowing Canada a chance to avenge its 3-1 round-robin loss to the United States. Brayden Point also scored and Sam Reinhart had three assists as Canada took a 4-0 lead in the first 25 minutes, before Finland fought back to tie the game in the final 100 seconds.

Last week, against the backdrop of chilly diplomatic relations between the countries, sparked by President Donald Trump's discussions of tariffs - or even making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

The Americans were set to face Sweden on Monday night in a game that lost significance once Canada secured the second place in the final. The U.S. had already won both of its previous round-robin games, securing the top spot in the pool.

The matinee performance on Monday lacked the same level of intensity that had filled the Belle Center in Montreal during the early rounds.

Until the very last two minutes.

McDavid scored first, just four minutes into the game, and MacKinnon added to the lead less than a minute later, making it 2-0. By the five-minute mark, Finland had already used up their timeout in an attempt to calm things down.

The Canadians took a 3-0 lead late in the first period, and then MacKinnon extended the lead to 4-0 five minutes into the second period. That marked the end for Kevin Lankinen, who made five saves on nine shots.

Juuse Saros made 14 saves for the remainder of the game.

Binnington blocked the first 19 shots from Finland before Esa Lindell scored with about seven minutes left to prevent what would have been the first shutout of the tournament. With Saros pulled for an extra attacker, Mikael Granlund scored two goals in the last two minutes to make it a one-goal game before Crosby put the puck in the empty net from center ice.