MILAN (AP) — Seattle Kraken forwards Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen helped Finland rout Slovakia 6-1 in the men’s hockey bronze medal game at the Winter Olympics on Saturday night.
Men’s Olympic hockey bronze medal game – Finland 6, Slovakia 1: Box score
Kakko scored a goal and Tolvanen added two assists for the Finns, who earned bronze for a third consecutive time in Olympics with NHL players participating.
Erik Haula scored two goals and Joel Armia had a goal and two assists for Finland, which also got bronze in Sochi in 2014 and in Vancouver in 2010, and left Turin in 2006 with silver.
The Finns scored four times in the third period, bouncing back after blowing a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss to high-powered Canada in the semifinals on Nathan MacKinnon’s goal with 35.2 seconds left.
They again jumped ahead 2-0, and after Slovakia cut it to one, Roope Hintz and Kakko scored 42 seconds apart in the third period as the Finns broke open the game. They finished off their four-goal outburst with two empty-net scores.
Even getting to this point was an impressive feat because they did so without top player Aleksander Barkov, who is recovering from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right knee from an injury at Florida Panthers training camp in September.
Slovakia made an improbable underdog run through the tournament in Milan before losing to the U.S. in the semifinals, but was unable to secure back-to-back bronze medals four years after finishing third in Beijing.
Seattle Sports staff made additions to this story.
It’s on: USA beats Slovakia, will battle Canada for Olympic hockey gold
