4 NATIONS: McDavid & Canada hold off Finland to earn rematch with United States

BOSTON, MA – Despite some late dramatics from Team Finland, we'll have the rematch we all hoped for.

Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Team Canada will get another crack at their rivals to decide the tournament after they held off a late push from Team Finland in a 5-3 victory at TD Garden to advance to Thursday's Final of the 4 Nations Face-Off against Team USA.

McDavid had a goal and an assist, while Nathan MacKinnon had a pair of goals before captain Sidney Crosby scored an impressive empty-netter with 56 seconds remaining after Finnish forward Mikael Granlund scored twice in 23 seconds with the net empty to make things interesting after Canada had built themselves a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes.

"It was a good start," McDavid said post-game to Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas. "We found a way to get a couple. Definitely nice to do that. Starts haven't been an issue for our group, we've been great off the start, but we kind of let them back in late and found a way to get a win. That sets up a big one on Thursday."

Canada's victory sets up a rematch with the United States, who defeated them 3-1 on Saturday at Bell Centre in Montreal to earn themselves a place in the 4 Nations Final. The result also eliminates Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson with Sweden, who are in action against the United States later in the evening.

The Red & White looked too much to handle for the Finns with their new-look lines deployed by Head Coach Jon Cooper for the do-or-die clash at TD Garden, beginning at the top with a first line that included McDavid between the speedy Brayden Point and the hard-working Mark Stone.

The line shuffle provided instant returns for Canada and McDavid, who got the scoring started in a three-goal opening frame for Canada with an unassisted marker 4:13 into the period that deserved assists from Point and Stone for their hard forecheck that produced a careless pass up the middle from Finnish forward Roope Hintz that No. 97 greatfully accepted.

After intercepting the puck at the top of Finland's zone, McDavid carried the puck and turned along the outside of the left circle before firing a deceptive wrist shot on goal that went in off the far post to beat goaltender Kevin Lankinen for his second goal in as many games.

McDavid has notched the opening goal in back-to-back games at 4 Nations after scoring first on Saturday, which wound up being their only goal in a 3-1 defeat to Team USA. But this time, it would take Canada less than a minute to solve their opponents again and give themselves a multi-goal lead.

Nathan MacKinnon would streak in and snipe Canada to a 2-0 advantage only 46 seconds after McDavid opened the scoring before No. 97 got back on the scoresheet almost eight minutes later with an assist on Point's finish that came off a rebound chance generated by a shot on goal from Travis Sanheim.

The Oilers captain had a goal and an assist, was plus-2 and recorded two of his team's 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes while forming instant early chemistry next to Stone and Point.

The nearly 11-hour drive from Cole Harbour to Boston made it possible for plenty of Nova Scotians to make it to Massachusetts and provide good representation for Canada inside TD Garden on Saturday, and there were a lot of happy fans when their city's two prized exports in Nate MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby combined off the forecheck to make it 4-0 just over five minutes into the second period.

That goal chased Kevin Lankinen from the Finland crease after the Vancouver Canucks netminder conceded four goals on 13 shots, leading to Juuse Saros taken over between the pipes and looking sharp by making the next six shots to keep it a four-goal deficit for Finland – including a magical move by McDavid circling the net and opening up a shooting chance for Point in the slot.

Jordan Binnington was looking composed at the other end for Canada, making all 17 stops required through 40 minutes before defenceman Esa Lindell broke up his shutout with 6:41 remaining in the third period after beating him off the far post from a tight angle inside the right circle.

After a solid 15 minutes from Canada defensively to begin the final frame, the Finns pulled Saros for the extra attacker and made them work for the victory, pulling to within a goal at 4-3 with 1:17 left for them to find an equalizer behind back-to-back goals from Mikael Granlund at six-on-five.

However, Crosby dashed Finnish hearts by blowing up Granlund at centre ice with a big hit before Sam Reinhart was able to get him the puck to flip the insurance marker all the way down into the empty cage to complete the 5-3 victory.

"A great play," McDavid said. "It's as nice of an empty-netter as you're gonna get and a big mement, obviously. It was big to get that."

"It was ugly. Closer than we would've liked, but I thought for about 15 minutes there we did a great job wasting time. But it got close for sure and it was a great goal by Sid."

By way of a regulation win, Canada eliminated Sweden ahead of their meeting with the United States later in the evening with the head-to-head tiebreaker as a result of their 4-3 overtime victory to open the tournament back last Tuesday.