Canada’s gold-medal dream in men’s hockey at the Milan Cortina Olympics remains on course.
Nathan MacKinnon scored on a power play with 35.2 seconds left in the third period as the Canadians battled back from a 2-0 deficit to advance to the title game with a 3-2 victory over Finland on Friday.
Sam Reinhart and Shea Theodore had the other goals for Canada, which will face either the United States or Slovakia in Sunday’s podium decider to cap the NHL’s return to the Games. Jordan Binnington made 15 saves.
Connor McDavid picked up two assists to set the record for points by an NHL player at a single Olympics with 13.
Mikko Rantanen and Erik Haula replied for Finland. Juuse Saros stopped 36 shots. The Finns will take on the loser of U.S.-Slovakia in Friday’s late semifinal for bronze on Saturday.
MacKinnon’s winner came late in regulation with the Canadians up a man and pouring it on off a McDavid setup that stood after a Finnish challenge for offside.
Canada was minus captain Sidney Crosby after he suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of Wednesday’s thrilling 4-3 overtime victory. The 38-year-old’s right leg bent in an awkward direction as he braced for a hit from defenceman Radko Gudas near centre ice.
McDavid wore the `C’ against Finland in Crosby’s absence.
Down 2-1 to start the third period, Canada got a big stop from Binnington on Anton Lundell. Saros stopped a Marner one-timer at the other end before denying Brad Marchand on a rush chance.
Nathan MacKinnon’s last-minute goal sends Canada to the Olympic gold-medal game
The team in red kept coming and Theodore finally tied it with another one-time blast at 10:34 on a play that saw Haula knock Marchand into Saros moments earlier to set off wild celebrations from the Canadian contingent on the bench and in the stands.
Saros made another big stop on Marner with under five minutes left in regulation and MacKinnon with three minutes to go.
Niko Mikkola took a penalty for high-sticking on MacKinnon, who won it late for Canada.
Canada secured its semifinal berth in dramatic fashion with a late equalizer from Nick Suzuki before Mitch Marner won it in OT on a tremendous solo effort to avoid disaster against Czechia.
Finland advanced in similar fashion with a 3-2 extra-time triumph over Switzerland after trailing 2-0 midway through the third period.
Saros made a good stop on Macklin Celebrini off a McDavid setup three minutes into the first. The Canadians, who took the body early with big hits from Tom Wilson and Seth Jarvis, then got into penalty trouble.
Sam Bennett gave a puck away that led to a call for too many men on the ice that his teammates killed off. But the bruising centre and reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner as NHL playoff MVP with the Stanley Cup-winning Panthers then rocked Mikkola, his Florida teammate, into Saros for a goalie interference call.
Rantanen made Canada pay on the ensuing faceoff when he wired a one-time shot past Binnington’s glove at 16:55. Canada fell behind for the second straight game after going more than 800 minutes of Olympic hockey either tied or ahead with its NHLers dating back to the 2010 event in Vancouver.
Finland, which is without star centre Aleksander Barkov at the Games as he continues to recover from a knee injury, made it 2-0 at 3:26 of the second when Haula moved in alone on a short-handed breakaway and roofed his shot on Binnington.
Canada went to the power play again later in the period, and finally broke through when Cale Makar’s point shot was tipped by Reinhart past Saros at 14:20.
McDavid picked up an assist to set the record for points by an NHL players at a single Games with 12. The previous record he tied in the quarters was set 20 years ago in Turin, Italy, by Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu.
Canadian fans in Milan sipped tall boys and blared songs from iconic rock band “The Tragically Hip” from a speaker in the sunshine outside Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena — a facility southeast of the city centre completed just ahead of the Games — in the hours before puck drop.
A group of fans inside the rink hung a massive Canadian flag from the first row of the stands in the corner closest to their hockey heroes’ bench.
The NHL returned to the 2026 Winter Olympics after a 12-year absence. Canada won gold in 2002, 2010 and 2014 with its men’s stars. The country lost in the semis in 1998 before losing to the Finns in the bronze-medal matchup, and crashed out in the 2006 quarters.
Crosby and defenceman Drew Doughty topped the podium in 2010 and 2014 — the only players on the roster with previous Olympic experience before the hockey power arrived in Italy.
Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Canada’s dramatic 2-1 victory over the U.S. to claim the 4 Nations Face-Off, which served as an appetizer to the NHL’s Olympic return.
