By Amy Tennery
MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Nathan MacKinnon capped Canada’s extraordinary fightback to beat defending champions Finland 3-2 in a men’s Olympic ice hockey semi-final on Friday, firing in the kill shot with 35.2 seconds left on the clock in another nerve-searing game in Milan.
The NHL’s leading goal-scorer, MacKinnon made magic happen at Santagiulia Arena with just one second left on a power play after Canada clawed their way back from a two-goal deficit in the second period.
Forward Sam Reinhart scored to spark the comeback, while defenceman Shea Theodore got the third-period equaliser for Canada.
Canada will next face the winner of a semi-final game later on Friday between the United States and Slovakia. Finland will play in Saturday’s bronze-medal game. The gold-medal game is set for Sunday.
‘IT’S A CHESS MATCH’
The hot favourites with their roster packed with top-flight National Hockey League talent had looked nearly untouchable early in the tournament, but have been made to work in their last two games. Canada needed an overtime nail-biter to get past the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Their charismatic captain and former Olympic hero Sidney Crosby left that game injured and Canada were lacking some of their usual firepower as he sat out Friday’s game.
Canada had just three shots on goal through the first half of the opening period, and Finland got the chance they were waiting for when Sam Bennett was sent to the penalty box for goalie interference.
Mikko Rantanen scored three seconds into the power play and Finland piled on more pain early in the second period, when Erik Haula sent in a shorthanded goal with a backhand shot.
“The start of the game, everybody’s so excited to play, and so amped up, so much adrenaline, it’s just kind of natural, you get a little bit of a feel out process,” said Canada forward Brad Marchand. “Some of these teams you haven’t played before. It’s kind of chess match.”
The Canadians moved the right pieces around on the next power play, with defenceman Cale Makar blasting the puck through traffic toward the net, where Reinhart deflected it in to trim the lead. Theodore rocketed in a slapshot from the point to tie it midway through the third.
The Canadian joy overflowed with MacKinnon’s mighty shot in the waning moments of the game off an assist from Connor McDavid to avoid overtime. But the fans were made to hold their breath as officials weighed a challenge from the Finland bench for offside that ultimately proved unsuccessful.
The win kept alive North American fans’ hopes for a gold-medal showdown between the two preeminent ice hockey powerhouse nations, with the NHL allowing their players to compete at the Games for the first time since 2014.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan, additional reporting by Lori Ewing and Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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