After the loss against Team USA, Team Canada needed a win in this game.

It was only announced a couple minutes before the game, that star defender Cale Makar would make his return after the absence against Team USA, having Thomas Harley be the odd man out on defense. Travis Konecny also drew in for Seth Jarvis. Jordan Binninngton was announced as the starter for the third consecutive game.

Early in the game, Canada was all over Finland. Puck possession was all Canada, and at 4:13 of the first, Connor McDavid snapped one off the goal post and past Finnish goaltender Kevin Lankinen for his second goal of the tournament.

46 seconds later, Nathan MacKinnon gets in on the scoring putting one past Lankinen for his second of the tournament, and for the Canadians. Canada got off to a hot start early, trying to bounce back from their loss against the Americans on Saturday.

Less than ten minutes later, Brayden Point got on the scoresheet by knocking home a rebound from Sam Bennett for Canada’s third goal of the first period. Finland had a tough hill to climb against a Canadian team that was looking ahead to Thursday’s finals.

Five minutes into the second period, Nathan MacKinnon struck again, this time off a snapshot assisted by captain Sidney Crosby. MacKinnon’s third of the tournament prompted a goalie change for Finland, bringing in Predators goalie Juuse Saros. Finland can’t get much against this revitalized Canadian team, even when Devon Toews took a penalty later in the second.

In the third, Canada still powered over Finland. Speed and physicality were on display this entire game as the Canadians wouldn’t let up. With just under 7 minutes left in the final frame, Team Finland finally got on the board. With a sharp shot just underneath the right faceoff dot, Dallas Stars defender Esa Lindell shot one past Binnington to break his shutout bid.

Regardless of if Binnington should’ve had that one or not, Canada still needed to hang on for six-plus minutes to secure the win. With the Finnish net empty and less than two minutes to go, Mikael Granlund cut the lead to two with a one timer from the slot to get it past Binnington with traffic in front.

To make matters worse, Finland was able to get within one after Finland rushed into the zone and scored again off the stick of Mikael Granlund. With less than a minute remaining, Captain Canada became the hero yet again as he was able to flip the puck into the empty net to give Canada the two goal lead again.

Forgetting about the final two minutes, this was the perfect bounce back game for Team Canada, as they played a strong and complete 60 minute game with strong performances up and down the lineup. They will face Team USA in a rematch on Thursday, with the winner being crowned champions of the 4Nations Face-Off Tournament.