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Two assists from McDavid, clutch goal from MacKinnon give Canada win over Finland berth to Olympic gold final: Recap, Reaction and Highlights
Team Canada Nathan MacKinnon David W Cerny/Reuters via Imagn Images

Two assists from McDavid, clutch goal from MacKinnon give Canada win over Finland berth to Olympic gold final: Recap, Reaction and Highlights

Originally posted on Oilersnation  |  By Ryley Delaney  |  Last updated Feb 20, 2026 1:30 PM ET

Team Canada is heading to the gold medal game.

On Friday morning, Team Canada took down Finland 3-2 thanks to a comeback and a late-game winning power play goal. While their opponent is yet to be determined, pending the result of Friday afternoon’s game between Slovakia and the United States, Canada will be playing on Sunday morning to determine if they win the gold or silver medal. Let’s take a look at what happened in this one.

With about three minutes left in the period, Sam Bennett took a goaltender interference penalty. On the ensuing power play, Mikko Rantanen ripped it home to give Team Finland a 1-0 lead. Zach Hyman would have never.

Team Finland entered the second period with a 1-0 lead, and took a penalty of their own three minutes into the middle frame. However, 23 seconds later, Erik Haula scored on the penalty kill, getting behind Cale Makar and backhanding it top shelf. Evan Bouchard would never.

With just over six minutes left in the second period, Team Finland took another penalty. This time, Team Canada was the team that scored, as Makar’s shot from the point was deflected by a net-front Sam Reinhart to cut the lead in half.

Needing a goal to keep their gold medal hopes alive, Team Canada was all over Finland in the first half of the third period. Finally, they were able to beat Juuse Saros again as Shea Theodore’s shot deflected off his shoulder and in to tie the game at two. There was a shout for interference, but Haula pushed Brad Marchand on Saros, with the netminder having enough time to recover.

Within the final three minutes of the final frame, Niko Mikkola took a high sticking penalty to send Team Canada to the power play. It took almost the entire two minutes, but Team Canada finally scored as Connor McDavid passed it across the ice to Nathan MacKinnon, who was able to sneak it past Saros to send Team Canada to the gold medal game. Team Finland challenged for offside, but the zone entry was deemed to be onside.

Takeaways…

  • On Team Canada’s first goal, Connor McDavid picked up his 12th point of the tournament. That has significance, as he broke the record for the most points from an NHL’er at the Olympics with 12. He added a second assist on the game-winner in the final minute Saku Koivu and Teemu Selänne each had 11 at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.
  • This was another game that Team Canada just barely survived. Like the game against Team Czechia on Wednesday, Team Canada was down in the second half of the third period, but managed to find the game-tying goal, before winning it with just over 30 seconds left in the game. It’s not great news heading into the gold medal game on Sunday.
  • Team Canada’s opponent has yet to be determined. At 1:10 PM MT on Friday, Team USA and Team Slovakia will do battle to determine who plays on Sunday in the gold medal game
  • Either way, hopefully Sidney Crosby will be back in the lineup after missing Friday’s game. McDavid served as the captain in this one.
  • The gold medal game will be played on Sunday at 6:10 AM ET, or 2:10 PM in Italy’s time.

This article first appeared on Oilersnation and was syndicated with permission.

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