Finland stuns Sweden for dramatic overtime win in 4 Nations Face-Off

MONTREAL — We’ve been hearing about the Finnish style of hockey ever since the 4 Nations Face-Off was announced.

Deliberate, grinding and structured.

Taking opportunities to score when they come and otherwise slowing the thing down and sucking the life out of an opponent.

Needless to say, that never came to fruition against the United States.

But Finland executed its game plan to perfection on Saturday afternoon in a must-win rivalry matchup against Sweden, taking a dramatic 4-3 win that kept its tournament hopes alive in a game that swung back and forth until Mikael Granlund stamped the last imprint on the match with the overtime winner.

The Tre Kroner are now in need of some help to make it to the championship game, and Monday’s game against the U.S. is a must-win.

But with Team USA and Canada still to play Saturday night, no one has been eliminated from the tournament as of yet — an ideal scenario for the NHL. 

Still, this is now a desperate scenario for Team Sweden, as evidenced by coach Sam Hallam pulling Filip Gustavsson in favor of Linus Ullmark after Finland took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

That looked like it might swing the match in favor of Tre Kronor, which grabbed a 3-2 lead before Finland coach Antti Pennanen answered with a move of his own: putting Kaapo Kakko, a healthy scratch in Suomi’s tournament-opening loss to the United States, on the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Mikko Rantanen.

That paid off just as much as putting Ullmark into the crease did for Sweden, as Kakko recorded the primary assist on Barkov’s goal at 17:05 of the second, with both players at the netfront to help stuff in Olli Maatta’s cross-crease feed.

Barkov’s goal tied things at three, setting up for a last period packed with tension with both teams knowing they essentially had to win in order to keep their championship hopes alive.

Unlike the first 40 minutes, it didn’t lead to many goals.

Sweden had a power play chance after top Finnish penalty-killer Aleksander Barkov went off at 6:10 of the period, but the only thing that led to was Barkov getting a good look of his own as he came out of the box, which sailed wide.

Kakko produced a pair of chances at the doorstep in the final six minutes of regulation, but Ullmark parried aside both.

So to overtime it went, and a hero would be made.

Granlund came down and won it mere seconds after Kevin Lankinen stopped Adrian Kempe on the other end, his wrister beating Ullmark clean.

Though Mika Zibanejad got Sweden on the board first, snapping the puck in from the slot to open his account for the tournament, it was Finland that had the better of the early goings.

As is their preferred style, the Finns grinded, played a tight structure and took advantage of the offensive opportunities they got — stifling the Swedish attack.

Anton Lundell finished off a two-on-one rush to tie the game a couple minutes after Zibanejad’s goal and Mikko Rantanen scored on the power play at the tail end of the first, his one-timer trickling through Gustavsson, who was promptly taken out of the game during intermission.

Consecutive goals from the Swedes handed them back a 3-2 lead in the second, with Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson lighting the lamp.

The pendulum had more swings in it yet.

It was Sweden that took the most famous match between these two, winning gold at the 2006 Olympics.

It was Finland that took some revenge on Saturday, and it is Finland suddenly looking a possibility to shock the hockey world with a championship game berth in this 4 Nations Face-Off.