Finland's shake-up pays off in OT win against Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off

MONTREAL -- With one shot from Mikael Granlund on Saturday, Finland not only earned bragging rights against its biggest rival but also control of its fate in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Granlund’s goal 1:49 into overtime gave a Finland a 4-3 victory against Sweden at Bell Centre and put it in position to advance to the tournament final with a regulation win against Canada at TD Garden in Boston on Monday (1 p.m. ET: MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

"It's always great to beat Sweden,” Granlund said. “Those games are fun to play. There's so many people in Finland, in Sweden to watch these games. It's great to come [out] on top, and at the same time we are alive in this tournament.

“Everything is in our own hands. Good for us, and we just move on for Monday."

It was a dramatic swing for Finland, which would’ve been eliminated from contention for the final with a regulation loss Saturday after losing 6-1 to the U.S. in its opening game of the tournament on Thursday. Finland played with a desperation fitting the situation and was rewarded in a back-and-forth battle in which there were four lead changes.

“It was a must-win for sure,” forward Mikko Rantanen said. “We knew that coming into the game we had to win the game to stay alive and we did that, which was obviously a good result. … It was a playoff game. It felt like a playoff game.”

Finland coach Antti Pennanen pulled out all the stops, beginning with a change in net, starting Kevin Lankinen instead of Juuse Saros, who allowed six goals on 32 shots against the U.S. Pennanen also replaced Joel Armia on the fourth line with Kaapo Kakko, who was healthy scratch against the U.S.

By late in the second period, Kakko was moved up to the top line with Rantanen and Aleksander Barkov and Pennanen had cut down to three lines. That moved paid off on Barkov’s goal with an assist from Kakko that tied the score at 3-3 at 17:05 of the second period.

“Kaapo, he started really well, so that was the one reason why we needed to put him on the first line,” Pennanen said. “Some fresh legs and he can win the battles, and as we saw he can go to the net. That was one change we needed.”

Another subtle change of moving Granlund to the second line with Roope Hintz and Sebastian Aho in place of Patrik Laine, who took Granlund’s former spot on the third line with Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell also paid off. Laine assisted on Finland’s first two goals, springing Luostarinen and Lundell on a 2-on-1 that Lundell finished to tie the score at 1-1 at 10:58 of the first period and setting up Rantanen’s power-play goal that gave Finland a 2-1 lead at 19:46 of the first.

"He was really good today,” Pennanen said. “Every time when he has been part of the Finnish national team, he has played good game and also here at 4 Nations. I liked what I saw today. For me it seems that he's highly excited and now he has more confidence.

“Lots of good things happen around him now.”

Lankinen did his part by making 21 saves, including one on Adrian Kempe’s backhand on a right-wing rush in overtime 11 seconds before Granlund scored the winner on a 3-on-1 rush. The puck trickled through Lankinen initially, but he kicked back with his left skate to knock it out of the crease to defenseman Niko Mikkola.

“These are the kind of opportunities that you dream of, right?” Lankinen said. “You prepare so hard that whenever an opportunity shows up, you just go out and play. That was kind of my mindset tonight. I felt better as the game went on, and obviously they got some great talent on the other side there, so I was happy that I was able to help the team win.”

The meaning of the victory was evident in Finland’s celebratory postgame locker room. The players were proud of how they rebounded from a disappointing performance against the U.S. and, of course, proud to have defeated Sweden when both teams were desperate for a win.

“It was a tough, tough loss against USA, but again, it’s a big rivalry between us and Sweden and we really wanted to win,” said Barkov, Finland’s captain. “I’m pretty sure they wanted to win really bad as well, and we won, so we’re really happy, excited about that.

“So, it means a lot.”

Finland faces a tall task against Canada on Monday but has a growing belief in itself after pulling out the victory against Sweden.

“I think it’s pretty cool to win in this kind of tournament and this keeps us in the tournament still,” Laine said. “Now, we have to beat Canada, which is going to be tough, but we know we can do it if we play our game. We are going to ‘celly’ for a bit and then focus on Canada.”