Neighboring countries will renew an age-old rivalry when Team Sweden faces Team Finland in the third game of the 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday afternoon in Montreal.
“I mean, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Sweden and Nashville Predators winger Filip Forsberg. “Obviously, it’s a rivalry that goes back to medieval times, pretty much.”
The Northern European countries are separated by a 339-mile land border and the Gulf of Bothnia.
“Overall, I would say it’s kind of a brotherly love and hate, where ‘hate’ is a strong word, so take it the right way,” Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam said. “But you want to beat your brother, that’s the way it is.”
Each team lost its opening game of the midseason tournament in Montreal, but Sweden managed to earn a point in its 4-3 overtime defeat to Team Canada on Wednesday. Finland fell 6-1 to Team USA on Thursday.
Teams get three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime/shootout win, one point for an overtime/shootout loss and no points for a regulation loss. The U.S. leads with three points, and Canada has two.
Finland trailed the United States 2-1 after two periods, playing the country’s signature defensive, tight-checking and counterattacking style. However, the U.S. scored twice in the first 26 seconds of the third period and added another goal at the three-minute mark to blow the contest open.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju gave Finland a 1-0 lead 7:31 into the game. However, Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators tied it less than three minutes later, and the Minnesota Wild’s Matt Boldy got the eventual winning goal late in the second period.
Brady Tkachuk added his second goal, his brother Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers scored twice (both on the power play) and added an assist and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jake Guentzel also scored for Team USA in the third period.
Nashville’s Juuse Saros made 26 saves for Finland.
“It doesn’t matter that we are playing Sweden. I’m sure everyone in here wants to get to playing again as soon as possible,” Finland’s Mikael Granlund of the Dallas Stars wrote in a blog for NHL.com. “Obviously, it will be an exciting game and I’m excited about the opportunity.”
Sweden got off to a slow start in its loss to Canada, allowing a power-play goal 56 seconds in and trailing 2-0 after the first period.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin put Sweden on the board 9:33 into the second period. Third-period markers by the Los Angeles Kings’ Adrian Kempe and the Wild’s Joel Eriksson-Ek tied the contest 3-3 and sent it into overtime, but Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored the winner for Canada 6:06 into the three-on-three extra session.
Overtime periods in the tournament are 10 minutes of three-on-three play and then a shootout if the game is still tied, up until the championship game. That overtime would use the Stanley Cup playoff format of five-on-five for 20-minute periods until a goal is scored.
The Detroit Red Wings’ Lucas Raymond had two assists for Sweden on Wednesday, while Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson made 24 saves.
–Field Level Media
