By Trevor Stynes and Amy Tennery
MILAN, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Defending champions Finland swatted aside Slovakia to win the men’s Olympic bronze medal on Saturday, scoring four goals in the final period to see off the bronze medallists from four years ago in a 6-1 win at Santagiulia arena.
The Finns had little time to lick their wounds after letting a two-goal lead slip through their hands against Canada in Friday’s semi-final and made a subdued celebration as the final buzzer sounded.
“I’m really proud of every guy who came out and played the way we played today. It was disappointing for sure last night and then in such a short period of time we played this game,” said Joel Armia, who scored a goal in the third period.
The two sides met in the opening group game when Slovakia came out 4-1 winners, but the Finns turned on the style when it really mattered with a medal on the line.
Sebastian Aho and Erik Haula put Finland two goals up before Tomas Tatar made it 2-1 going into the final period.
The Finns scored two more in quick succession through Roope Hintz and Kaapo Kakko, and Armia and Haula added empty-net goals to complete the rout.
Aho had tapped in to put Finland ahead in the eighth minute, and Haula, well rested after spending two minutes in the penalty box, surprised everyone with a snapshot from out wide which sailed past Samuel Hlavaj nine minutes into the second period.
Slovakia prayers were answered with 30 seconds left before the final interval as Finland goalie Juuse Saros scrambled to get back to his net and Tatar pounced to score.
Miro Heiskanen’s wrist shot was redirected by his Dallas Stars teammate Hintz for a power-play goal and less than a minute later Kakko smacked his shot in off the post.
The game was up when Slovakia pulled their goalie, only to see Armia score 21 seconds later and Haula found the net when they put the goaltender on the bench a second time.
It was Finland’s fifth bronze and eighth men’s Olympic ice hockey medal overall.
Slovakia, who topped their group but lost to the U.S. in the semis, were left to rue missed chances after the Finnish goalie turned away 30 shots.
“It’s definitely the worst loss in my hockey career,” said Slovakia defenceman Martin Fehervary.
Finland collected their first gold with an inspired win over Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) four years ago but the addition of NHL players this year – for the first time since 2014 – changed the equation entirely.
Only one member of that 2022 winning team – defenceman Mikko Lehtonen – returned this time, as Finland stuffed their roster with an enviable array of National Hockey League talent.
Canada play the U.S. in Sunday’s gold medal game.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, Amy Tennery and Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)
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