Canada on Monday set up another politically charged ice hockey grudge match against the US by beating Finland 5-3 to reach the final of the NHL Four Nations tournament.
Two days after suffering a bruising 3-1 loss to the US in a chaotic clash in Montreal, Canada ensured they would have a chance to avenge that loss against in tomorrow’s final in Boston.
Saturday’s first meeting between Canada and the US descended into mayhem within seconds of the puck being dropped, with three fights breaking out in the first nine seconds.
Photo: AFP
That tumultuous opening came after Canada’s home fans had drowned out the US national anthem with a cacophony of boos — reflecting the bitter political tensions between the two neighbors following US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
Trump has also repeatedly called for Canada to become the “51st state” of the US, and routinely refers to outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”
Canada’s players on Monday said that they are relishing the chance of another crack at the US after Saturday’s ill-tempered tussle.
“The last thing we wanted was to go home today,” Canada center Nathan MacKinnon said. “We’d love to play them [the US] again — we feel like we could beat those guys. We plan on playing a little better [on] Thursday.”
Teammate Sam Reinhart echoed MacKinnon’s comments.
“That’s what you want, you want an opportunity to play those guys again. Today that’s what we gave ourselves a chance to do,” Reinhart said. “We expect the same atmosphere. You try and learn from what went well and what went wrong, and hopefully we’ll come out on the right side.”
Canada needed a win in regulation against Finland at Boston’s TD Garden to be certain of reaching the final. That outcome was all but guaranteed after first-period goals from Connor McDavid, MacKinnon and Brayden Point fired Canada into an early 3-0 lead.
MacKinnon doubled his tally after scoring in the second period to put Canada 4-0 up.
Finland pulled a goal back from Esa Lindell, before a brace from Mikael Granlund made it 4-3 to set up a nervy finale, but veteran Canada star Sidney Crosby rifled a shot into an empty net in the final minute to give Canada a two-goal winning cushion.
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