Niedermayer lifted a harmless-looking shot from the left circle, but it managed to get between the Calgary Flames goalie's pads and put Finland behind 2-1.
"Kipper didn't play his best game," Summanen said. "We made a couple of bad mistakes as a team."
A superb individual effort by Tuomo Ruutu got Finland into another tie just before the second period ended.
The precision of his moves surely wiped the sleep out of the eyes of Finnish fans who stayed up in Helsinki for the 2am local time faceoff.
Ruutu took a pass from Lydman at center ice and beat Brad Richards to get into the Canada zone. He worked the puck down the right boards, eluded Niedermayer and Simon Gagne in succession, cut to the middle and fired a shot past Brodeur's glove side to tie it with one minute left in the second period.
Brodeur, who allowed only three goals before the finals, missed Canada's semifinal victory over the Czech Republic because of a wrist injury sustained three days earlier.
"I felt really good, my wrist didn't bother me at all," Brodeur said.
Each team had 12 shots in the second period, quite a contrast from Finland's 2-1 semifinal victory over the US. In that one, the close-to-the-vest Finns had 12 for the game and allowed 17.
"We're disappointed, but I'm sure it will feel a little better later," forward Jarko Ruutu said.
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