Mikael Granlund of Finland kept a blog throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off.
In his final entry, the Dallas Stars forward talks about a 5-3 loss to Canada at TD Garden in Boston that eliminated Finland -- and Sweden -- from the tournament. Granlund scored twice 23 seconds apart playing 6-on-5 late in the third period to make it a one-goal game before Sidney Crosby's empty-net goal ended the comeback. Granlund finished with a team-high three goals in the tournament.
Canada got its first two goals really quickly and we really couldn't bounce back. We were playing against a really good team today. We got behind and then we played from there for the whole game. That's not easy. We tried to have a little bit of push at the end, but that was a little bit too little, a little bit too late. Obviously, it [stinks].
We found some energy when we pulled the goalie in the third period and got some goals, and it gave us a chance. We got it down to one goal, which was wild. You don't see that too often, to be down like that at the end, a four-goal deficit, and then you come back. It gave us a chance, but obviously we came up a bit short at the end. I hoped the whole 60 minutes could have been a little bit better for us.
When I scored my second goal, we had hope. You always believe, right? You always think there is a chance, and you keep fighting. We were only one goal down. We had scored three so fast. We thought maybe we could get one more, we hoped we could. We gave what we got, but that wasn't enough for us tonight. We came up a little bit short and then the empty-net goal for them kind of ended it.
This tournament has been great. The standards in the games have been so high because there are so many great players in this tournament. It's such a great thing for the hockey world, the people that watch and love the game. Hopefully others who haven't watched that much hockey, they see these games and they see the skill, the speed, the energy and all that passion. That's what this game is all about. I think this is a great showcase for the sport and I am happy that this tournament happened, and it has put on display some of the best players in the game.
Now, the Olympics are next year and there will be more of this. There is nothing better than best-on-best hockey. It's great hockey and that tournament is going to be another beast in Milan. I am already excited about that tournament and looking forward to it now.
Thanks for joining me on Finland's journey through the 4 Nations Face-Off!
