MILAN — The Canadians had their eyes on the gold medal game when the 2026 Winter Olympics began, and getting there took on extra meaning with their captain on the sidelines.
For a second consecutive game, they had to rally, doing so in thrilling fashion Friday, Feb. 20, overcoming a two-goal deficit to Finland in the men’s tournament to win 3-2, netting the winner with 36.2 seconds left in regulation at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Sidney Crosby was unavailable because of an injury to his right leg suffered during the quaterfinal, and by winning, the Canadians bought him an extra day off before Sunday’s finale.
‘You want to win for Sid,’ Canadian defenseman Cale Makar said. ‘You don’t want that to be his last game here in Milan and for us. You definitely play for a guy like that and you play for all the Canadians out there that watch us every single day. We just want to make them proud. But for a guy like Sid, our captain, we go out there and try and do everything we can for him.’
Asked if Crosby might be available Sunday, Canada coach Jon Cooper said, ‘We have 48 hours to decide that but he’s got a better chance of playing in the gold medal game than he had of playing in tonight’s game.’
Canada is seeking its first Olympic gold since 2014, and will take on the USA, which beat Slovakia 6-2 in the other semifinal.
For the Finns, the final score tore at their hearts. They scored first, they scored second, they basically had three skaters playing back on the defense to keep Canada out. But sitting back so much after the first period — the Finns had four shots on net from the start of the second period until the middle of the third period, and were outshot 31-9 the last 40 minutes — was not a sound strategy against a team as talented as Canada.
‘We played the best team in the world,’ said Erik Haula, who scored a shorthanded goal early in the second period. ‘Took it to them. We kept talking about how we can just defend. They’re a good team. That’s the truth. We talked about it between the second and third. We’ve got to push for that next one.’
Instead, it was Canada doing what Canada does: Win. The Canadians pressed more and more, harder and harder, and Shea Theodore tied the game at 10:34 of the third period on a long-range slap shot off while Brad Marchand created havoc around Juuse Saros’ crease.
‘The way he tracks pucks and the way he moves, I don’t know if there’s a goalie in the league that does it better than he does,’ Canada coach Jon Cooper said. ‘So you’re down 2-0, and you’re thinking, ok, we’ve got to pierce Finland’s stout defense, but honestly the big worry for me is how are we going to get to Saros.’
Sam Bennett said rallying against Czechia in the quarterfinals helped.
‘You can’t just be a team that plays well with the lead, you have to be able to battle through adversity, tough moments,’ Bennett said. ‘We showed that. We played harder when we got down. We pushed the whole game, right to the very end. It just shows how bad this team wants it. It was great to see.’
Canada avoided going to overtime for a second consecutive game thanks to a fantastic shift from Nathan MacKinnon. He drew a high-sticking call on Niko Mikkola, then converted a one-timer from the left side set up by Connor McDavid to put Canada up within half a minute of winning. Desperate, Finnish coach Antti Pennanen challenged that Macklin Celebrini was offside, to no avail.
McDavid, wearing the ‘C’ in lieu of Crosby (in international hockey, there has to be a player serving as captain), had two assists, setting a record with 13 points in Olympics with NHL participation.
‘Just keeping the seat warm for Sid,’ McDavid said. ‘Hopefully we can see him here on Sunday. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to miss tonight. I’m sure it was a long game to watch. I know that for a fact. It means a lot to represent our country here as a team int he sport we love. That’s what it’s all about.’