{"id":464929,"date":"2026-02-20T20:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/464929\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T20:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:47:15","slug":"lehkonen-kiviranta-will-play-for-bronze-medal-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/464929\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehkonen, Kiviranta Will Play For Bronze Medal on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Team Finland has historically always put up a fight against Canada in Olympic competition. But this year was never going to be easy without Aleksander Barkov available.<\/p>\n

Still, the Finns did all they could. They erased a two-goal deficit late against Switzerland in the quarterfinals to advance to the final four. And they jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Canada. It still wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Kiviranta, and the rest of Team Finland will play for the bronze medal at 12:40 p.m. MT on Saturday. Canada climbed back from a 2-0 hole, and Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead goal for Canada with just 35 seconds remaining in the third period to push Canada to Sunday\u2019s Final.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Playing For Gold: MacKinnon Scores Late PP Goal To Complete Thrilling Canada Comeback<\/a><\/p>\n

The Olympics are known to create heroes. Lehkonen has had a great NHL career already, but his historic OT goal against Switzerland helped solidify his reputation as a big-game player. It added to an already impressive resume of clutch goals, but it came on a world stage.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Lehkonen, still with the Montreal Canadiens, scored the game-winner in a semifinal series against the Vegas Golden Knights to send the Habs to an unexpected Stanley Cup Final berth. He did the exact same thing for Colorado the following season, this time in OT of Game 4 against the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

In the Stanley Cup Final, Lehkonen scored the Cup-clinching goal for the Avalanche in Game 6 in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Every team would prefer to play for Gold instead of Bronze, but Lehkonen and company deserve an opportunity to leave Milan with a medal. They put up a fight that not many expected them to without their captain.<\/p>\n

Lehkonen has two goals and five points in as many games. Kiviranta, who played 6:23 on Friday, has two goals in four games. They\u2019ll both have one more game to add to their totals, and to potentially come home with a bronze medal.<\/p>\n


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