Lankinen has carried the bulk of the workload in net for the Vancouver Canucks this season after signing a one-year, $875,000 contract Sept. 21 because starting goalie Thatcher Demko was sidelined because of a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old is 19-8-7 with a 2.53 goals-against average, .905 save percentage and four shutouts in 34 games (32 starts).
In his final four games before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, Lankinen was 3-0-1 with a 1.79 GAA and .929 save percentage to help Vancouver (26-18-11) climb three points ahead of the Calgary Flames into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"Obviously he's always been a good goalie and now I feel like he's playing with high confidence in Vancouver, which is nice to see," Finland forward Mikko Rantanen said. "I'm happy for him. He's almost battling there to be the starting goalie with Demko, so it tells how well he's playing."
A finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the top goalie in the NHL in 2022, Saros has been inconsistent with the Nashville Predators this season, going 11-23-6 with a 2.95 GAA, .899 save percentage and four shutouts in 41 games. That carried into Finland's game against the U.S.
Finland battled the U.S. tough for two periods and was in position to pull off an upset trailing 2-1 entering the third period, but the U.S. pulled away, scoring four goals on 12 shots, including two in the first 26 seconds.
"I think we played pretty good the first two periods and we were able to challenge them pretty well," Saros said. "And then it kind of turned pretty quickly there in the third."
Of his own play, Saros said, "Obviously you always want to help your team even more in games like that."
Rantanen said Finland is confident it can rebound regardless of which goalie starts Saturday.
"All our goalies have proven to play at a high level in the NHL," he said. "So we're fully trusting our guys and we can do a better job to try to help them make saves and make their job easier."
Lankinen last played for Finland in the 2019 IIHF World Championship, where he helped it win the gold medal by making 43 saves in a 3-1 win against Canada in the final. He also made 14 saves and assisted on the winning goal scored by Sakari Manninen in a 5-4 overtime victory against Sweden in the quarterfinals of that tournament.
So the Helsinki native understands the importance of playing against Sweden and the pressure that comes with it. There also is pressure because Finland will be eliminated from reaching the tournament final with a regulation loss.
Lankinen, though, embraces the opportunity.
"There's always pressure no matter who we play," he said. "So I just focus on my own game. It doesn't matter who we play. I'm just going to compete and do whatever I can."
Pennanen said there "could be" additional changes to Finland's lineup. Defenseman Juuso Valimaki said he will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game, but Finland could add forward Kaapo Kakko, who said he's "not sure yet" if he will play against Sweden after being scratched against the U.S.
"Tomorrow we'll know more about those," Pennanen said. "Again, 6-1, we need to do something. But I'll know more exactly tomorrow, and those changes are public tomorrow."
