Team Canada survives Finland and sets up dream match up with USA in Four Nation’s Final

It’s the match up we were all hoping to see when the NHL announced it would be switching the All-Star Game format into a round robin international battle between four hockey powerhouses.

The final we’ve been waiting for

Canada, Finland, Sweden and USA were the first countries to be invited to play in the look midseason tournament. Since the schedule was released fans had one game during the round robin circled and were crossing their fingers for potential rematch in the Four Nations final. That matchup of course was Canada vs. USA.

We got our first taste of it on Saturday night in Montreal, and it didn’t take long for the bad blood to rise to the surface. Three fights in the first 10 seconds of the first period set the tone for these two teams that don’t particularly like each other.

Team USA got the best of the Canadians in the second of each team’s three games on Saturday night. Connor McDavid put the Canadians in the lead shortly after the melees came to an end, but Connor Hellebuyck stood strong the rest of the game and shut out Sidney Crosby and his team for the next 55 minutes. A goal from Dylan Larkin and two goals from Jake Guentzel, one of those coming in the final minutes of the game, were enough to edge the USA over Canada in what was a tight game throughout.

MacKinnon scores two to set up rematch

On Monday against Finland, Team Canada knew they had to win to set up a rematch against Team USA in the final. They came out focused on the mission at hand to ensure they would get their chance at revenge in Boston on Thursday night.

The Canadians scored two goals in the first five minutes and had netted three before end of the first quarter. Connor McDavid got the night going with the first goal, then Nathan MacKinnnon doubled the advantage less than a minute later. Goals from Brayden Point and a second from MacKinnon were enough to put the game seemingly out of reach, but Finland had a surprise in store.

The Fins scored three goal in the final seven minutes to make the Canadiens sweat out the win, and qualify for the final. Captain Sydney Crosby had the final say with an empty net goal that shut the door on Finland and stamped their ticket to the final. They will meet Team USA in an all or nothing showdown from Boston Garden at 8 p.m. ET.