Winger Conor Garland scored twice as the United States came from a goal down to ease past Finland 5-2 on Thursday in Stockholm, booking their spot in Saturday’s semifinals at the men’s world hockey championship.
After withstanding early Finnish pressure, the Americans took the lead at the 4:50 mark when Logan Cooley slipped a beautiful pass across the ice for Garland to rattle home but, with Cooley later in the penalty box for delaying the game, the Finns struck back through Eeli Tolvanen.
The Finns took a 2-1 lead with a Patrick Puistola goal that capped another well-executed power play but the U.S. pulled even when Zeev Buium swept home the rebound from a Matt Beniers shot and they went ahead when Garland’s fortuitous effort deflected off the stick of Mikael Seppala and into the net.
Shane Pinto gave the Finns a mountain to climb when he scored six minutes into the second period to make it 4-2 and Clayton Keller fired into an empty net with just under three minutes left to condemn 2022 champs Finland to a third straight exit at the quarterfinal stage.
“I think in the first half we were a little frustrated but as the game went on we stuck to our game, we got our chances and we capitalized,” a delighted Pinto told Reuters. “The Finnish, they do a good job of defending. They don’t make many mistakes but when they do, we had to capitalize on them, and I thought we did.”
Added U.S. head coach Ryan Warsofsky: “I really liked how we stayed with it and built as the game wore on. We got off to a bit of a slow start, but really found our game as time wore on. I give our guys a lot of credit as they beat an excellent hockey team today.”
In the afternoon’s other quarterfinal in Herning, Denmark, Switzerland thrashed Austria 6-0, and the Americans’ opponents will become clear after Canada takes on the Danes in Herning (2:20 p.m. ET start) and Sweden hosts the Czech Republic in Stockholm.
“Whoever we play, we play, and hopefully we bring our best and we can keep winning. We have a good hockey team, so it should be fun,” Pinto said.
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