After dropping the opening game of the 2026 Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey tournament two days ago, Finland responded with a vital 4-1 win over rival Sweden on Friday morning in Milan. Both Finland and Sweden have one win and one loss for three points through two games, but Finland holds the tiebreaker in Group B.
For the second consecutive game to open the Olympics, Chicago Blackhawks forward Teuvo Teravainen was held off the scoresheet. Teravainen once again skated alongside Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes) and Artturi Lehkonen (Colorado Avalanche) on Finland’s second line, but the trio was kept quiet by Sweden’s stout defense.
In fact, Teravainen was the only one of the three to record a shot on goal in the win, tallying just one in 13:53 of ice time. With Finland going into shutdown mode in the third period, while also having to kill off two penalties, the second line didn’t see much time together down the stretch. Teravainen played only 3:17 in the final frame and didn’t have as large a role on the penalty kill compared to Wednesday’s loss to Slovakia.
Finland also didn’t receive any offensive contribution from its top line of Mikael Granlund (Anaheim Ducks), Roope Hintz (Dallas Stars), and Mikko Rantanen (Dallas Stars) on Friday, although Rantanen did score an empty-netter in the final seconds. Instead, the Finns’ bottom six and blue line impressively provided all the run support to secure their first win of the competition.
Nikolas Matinpalo (Ottawa Senators) and Anton Lundell (Florida Panthers) scored in the first period, giving Finland a 2-0 advantage through 20 minutes. The third line of Lundell, Eetu Luostorinen (Florida Panthers), and Kaapo Kakko (Seattle Kraken) was on the ice for both goals.
After Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres) cut Sweden’s deficit in half with a power-play strike in the second period, Finland scored a clutch special-teams goal of their own to regain the two-goal lead. Joel Armia (Los Angeles Kings), who tallied an assist on Finland’s lone goal on Wednesday, recorded a short-handed tally for his second point of the tournament. Erik Haula (Nashville Predators), who skated with Armia and Eeli Tolvanen (Seattle Kraken) on the fourth line once again, picked up the primary assist.
Goaltender Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators) was also spectacular against Sweden, stopping 34 of 35 shots to earn the win in net. The Swedes fired 17 shots on goal in the third period alone, but Saros held strong and made all 17 saves.
It’s a quick turnaround for Finland to conclude the preliminary round, as they return to action on Saturday against Italy (9:40 a.m. CT), the host country. Slovakia and Sweden, the other two countries in Group B, first square off in the opening game of the day (5:10 a.m. CT), so Finland will know where they stand and what they need to accomplish before hitting the ice.
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