Canada clinches berth in 4 Nations title game, holds off Finland

BOSTON -- Canada and the United States will play with the 4 Nations Face-Off championship and international hockey supremacy on the line.

The rematch is officially on after Canada held on to defeat Finland 5-3 at TD Garden on Monday behind two goals from Nathan MacKinnon and three assists from Sam Reinhart.

"The last thing we wanted to do was go home today or tomorrow," MacKinnon said. "We'd love to play [the United States] again. We feel we can beat those guys."

Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby each had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves for Canada (1-1-0-1), which will play the U.S. here on Thursday.

The United States advanced to the final when it defeated Canada 3-1 in an emotionally charged game at Bell Centre on Saturday that featured three fights in the first nine seconds.

"We came here for this purpose and now it's win one more game, and it just happens to be against the team that beat us after the fireworks that went off Saturday night," Canada coach Jon Cooper said. "I think it should be a pretty good made-for-TV event."

It got dicey for the Canadians at the end, though.

Finland scored three straight goals in the third period, including two from Mikael Granlund 23 seconds apart to make it 4-3 with 1:17 remaining.

But Crosby scored into the empty net with 56 seconds left to seal it for Canada.

"Got a couple of goals there late and came really close, but not today," Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said. "Obviously, it's not an easy task to come back from 4-0. The deficit against maybe the best team in the world. So, I think we did well there at the end, but the rest of the 50 minutes, we could have and should have probably played a little better."

Kevin Lankinen started in goal for Finland (0-1-0-2) but was pulled at 5:03 of the second period after allowing four goals on 13 shots. He was replaced by Juuse Saros, who didn't allow a goal on 14 shots.

"I'm really proud how we played, how we battled," Barkov said. "Overall, every single day here, wearing the national team jersey, national team clothes, and just being around these guys was a lot of fun. It's one of those tournaments I'll remember the rest of my life."

McDavid gave Canada a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the tournament at 4:13 of the first period.

Roope Hintz tried to clear the puck out of the defensive zone, but McDavid intercepted it at the offensive blue line. He brought it into the left face-off circle, turned up, saw defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo backing off and scored with a wrist shot to the far side.

"The best player in the League made an unreal play," MacKinnon said. "Great screen by (Mark Stone) as well. Great start for us."

MacKinnon scored 46 seconds later to make it 2-0. Reinhart moved the puck up to him in space and MacKinnon did the rest, getting it in the right circle and scoring with a quick shot to Lankinen's blocker side at 4:59.

"They set the tone right away," Crosby said of McDavid and MacKinnon. "That's what you need, big plays from big time players. They stepped up to get us the lead, get a start like that, get our feet under us."

Canada went up 3-0 at 13:02, when Brayden Point scored on a rebound of Travis Sanheim's shot off the rush with McDavid.

MacKinnon extended the lead to 4-0 at 5:03 of the second, scoring with a one-timer off a pass from Crosby, who was below the goal line.

Saros relieved Lankinen during the stoppage after the goal.

"Afterwards, it's easy to say that maybe make the move before that, but it was like that, and Juuse was really good," Finland coach Antti Pennanen said.

Finland avoided the shutout when Esa Lindell scored with a far side shot from the right circle at 13:19 of the third period to make it 4-1.

Granlund scored a 6-on-5 goal to make it 4-2 at 18:20, with a one-timer from the left hash marks. He scored again in a 6-on-5 situation from a similar spot to make it 4-3 at 18:43.

Pennanen had one thought on the bench at the time.

"We're coming back," Finland's coach said. "I believed strongly that we [could] come back because [Canada felt] the pressure."

Crosby's goal at 19:04 made it 5-3.

"It kind of got a little scrambly," Binnington said. "But Sid burying that goal in that game management moment, that's a player."

Canada's regulation win also eliminated Sweden before it plays the U.S. in the last game of the round-robin portion of the tournament Monday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

But all eyes are now on Thursday night; Canada and the United States, the rematch for the championship.

"Who's favored, who's not, we come in here to win this," Cooper said. "I'm really looking forward to the game. This is why we came here."

NOTES: Canada advanced to the final of an NHL-hosted international tournament for the ninth time in nine tries, and will seek its seventh championship. It has won the Canada Cup four times and was runner-up once, and won the World Cup of Hockey twice and was runner-up once. ... Cale Makar returned to Canada's lineup and had four blocked shots playing a team-high 23:57. The defenseman did not play against the U.S. on Saturday because of an illness. He replaced Thomas Harley in the lineup. … Forward Travis Konecny played for Canada, replacing Seth Jarvis, who played in the first two games. Konecny had two shots on goal in 12:11 of ice time. … Joel Armia returned to Finland's lineup after being scratched against Sweden on Saturday. The forward, who replaced Teuvo Teravainen, played 11:20.