Less-Quick Olympic Thoughts: Finland-Sweden Still the Best Rivalry in Europe

Nothing like some outstanding hockey at 5:00am CST

Just because we’re still in the group stage doesn’t mean these games don’t feel like playoff matchups. And when it comes to Sweden and Finland, I’m not sure those two sides are capable of having a true exhibition game, anyhow.

Three of the four Dallas Stars players in this game took penalties, while Mikko Rantanen scored the final goal of a 4-1 win for Finland. But if you woke up early to watch this game like I did, the scoreline belies just how tense and fierce a battle this game was.

Miro Heiskanen (27:50) and Esa Lindell (28:38) played huge minutes, once again, but the forward deployment continued to be more balanced, with Rantanen (17:31) only getting a little more time than he did in the first game of the tournament. But all of those players’ minutes were Eventful, because this matchup brings out all the hate and resentment that makes hockey so great when the stakes are high. Group stage or no, this game was full of beans, so let’s get into it.

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Finland scored two early goals to establish a lead they never relinquished, but their failure to capitalize on numerous power plays (and other scoring chances) let even an uneven Sweden team hang around for the entire game. And what a game it was.

But don’t take my word for it:

It was every bit of that, too. Though if you watched the Peacock stream, you probably got a single UK PxP broadcaster rather than the Chris Cuthbert call on TSN.

That meant you would hear the word "clatter" used far more times in a hockey broadcast than ever before, and the call felt less like the breathless play-by-play the USA games will get, and more like you’re overhearing one side of a phone call where a calm British fellow is describing the game to someone who has only ever watched soccer.

That wasn’t an entirely bad thing, in my view. The hockey is what this is all about, and having a truly impartial observer simply calling out names and plays with a bit of extra description for newer fans is hardly a shortcoming. But with that said, any time you could be listening to Cuthbert call a game and aren’t, it’s a missed opportunity. Ah, well.

If you don’t know about why Findland-Sweden is such a longstanding rivalry, you can do some research. But the gist of the thing is that Sweden was the older brother for a long time until Finland has, in recent years, begun making this a much more even contest. The chip is still on the shoulder, and you saw it repeatedly, both between and after the whistles.

Finland also had to be furious about their opening loss to Slovakia. Not only was it an upset based on pure roster talent—just note how Slovakia had to eke out a 3-2 win over Italy this morning—but it also put Finland in a position where getting the first-round bye was almost impossible, unless they could beat Sweden, and Sweden can now beat Slovakia by a small margin in regulation.

That desperation was immediately apparent, for the Finns. After killing an early penalty with diligent PK work, Finland sent the top guys out for what turned into a prolonged offensive-zone shift. Rantanen and Granlund spent a lot of energy retrieving pucks and feeding them back up high, and Lindell looked ferocious along the wall. Sweden had to know this was coming, but they didn’t appear prepared for it, and they ended up paying for their slower start.

Nikolas Matinpalo got the Finns an early lead by stepping up to the top of the circle and ripping a wrister off the near post and in past Gustavsson, who hasn’t exactly had himself a dynamite tournament. Or maybe he has, if you mean it in the sense of a controlled explosion. Is Bill Guerin really considering trading Wallstedt? Sure feels like a Saros/Askarov situation in the making, or the reverse of Anaheim’s Gibson/Andersen debate from years ago, but hey, I’m not a GM.

Roope Hintz took a second Finland penalty when he got his stick up into a Swedish face after a netfront scuffle, and if Hintz is taking those kinds of penalties, you know the game is not lacking for energy and hockey hatred. The only question at that point was if Finland would be able to keep up their breakneck pace all game, but they sure managed it for the kill. Two great stops by Saros didn’t hurt, either.

Hintz then drew a casual hooking penalty on Victor Hedman that at least proved Gord Dwyer and Chris Rooney hadn’t fallen for the Game 7 act this game was putting on. Or maybe they just wanted to get Sweden a penalty early. Either way, Finland’s pressure at 5-on-5 was impressive for the majority of the game, and it won them the day.

That pressure was equally impressive right after the power play expired, as Anton Lundell tipped a shot that bounced up high before doinking off Gustavsson’s head and into the net. Lundell took a swing at the puck, which prompted a lengthy review—perhaps to check whether the swing was goalie interference or something?—but it’s clear he didn’t make contact with it above the crossbar, so eventually, it stood. 2-0 to Finland.

Hintz and Granlund nearly made it 3-0 on a 2-on-1 late in the first period, but Gustavsson came up with a critical save, for once. That allowed Sweden to nurse a mere two-goal deficit as the first intermission arrived, and you wondered if the game would settle down a bit in the middle frame.

The second period began with a bang. First, Rickard Rakell got a face full of Saros’s paddle on the follow through of a rim-around that was properly uncalled. Then, Mikael Granlund put Elias Pettersson into the Finland bench with a nice hit that riled everyone up.

And finally, Mikko Rantanen took a slashing penalty after Rasmus Andersson gave the Modano hand-waggle, proving that this game is indeed being officiated by NHL referees, and that Rantanen is still Rantanen. More on that in a bit.

Rasmus Dahlin is also still Rasmus Dahlin, and he put a long-range one-timer off the post and in to halve the lead on the power play, giving Sweden some much-needed momentum. I thought Finland might challenge for goaltender interference for a hot minute, but they haven’t succeeded in poaching Latvia’s video review coach yet, so the goal was left to stand.

Another great shift from the Hintz line created a Grade-A look for Rantanen that Gustavsson got a piece of, but the Finland pressure kept up after the rebound, and Sweden was forced to take another penalty that Finland once again failed to take advantage of. A bit of overtry was creeping into their game, perhaps, and Kaapo Kakko took a penalty to give Sweden a chance to equalize once again.

But this time it was Finland who capitalized on special teams (for once), when Joel Armia scored shorthanded with a gorgeous shot all alone on Gustavsson after a breakdown by Sweden, making it 3-1. That one wasn’t on the goaltender, although Saros would make his own 1-on-1 save on Lucas Raymond minutes later (with a hard Heiskanen stick check hampering him, admittedly). Still, you kinda had to feel like one bench had less confidence in their goalie than the other at that point.

Once again, Finland got a chance for a backbreaker of a goal when the top line got a 3-on-1.5 with Granlund leading the way, but Rantanen tried to make one too many passes to find Hintz down low, and the play was broken up without a shot. They wasted a few chances (and three power plays) to put Sweden away early in this game, no doubt.

The nasty nature of this rivalry became even more apparent at the end of the second period, when Mika Zibanejad and Miro Heiskanen got hold of each other with the referee five feet away.

Heiskanen was grabbing Zibanejad’s leg, and Zibanejad was giving him some shots. Eventually, Chris Rooney just sent them both to the box, Zibanejad’s incredulity notwithstanding.

The third period began with both players still in the box, and because of the tournament rules that don’t reduce manpower for matching minors, Finland went without their top defenseman until a whistle came. One finally did after Saros just barely sealed the post following a great one-on-one save. (“No goals.”)

Roope Hintz continued his ferocious game with a big (and clean) hit on Philip Broberg that sent the St. Louis defenseman to the bench holding his shoulder.

If you’re St. Louis, I’d imagine that had to feel like a “sure, why not” moment, but Broberg would return later in the game. Whether that makes St. Louis feel better or worse is anyone’s guess.

Ekman-Larsson took a cross-checking penalty on Rantanen later on, thereby restoring the Marchmentesque balance in penalties drawn and taken by the large Stars forward. But yet again, the Finns failed to do anything with it other than a Rantanen one-timer from the low circle that required a glove save from Gustavsson, and Lundell took a holding-the-stick penalty right afterward to give Sweden another look at the game on the man-advantage.

But Juuse Saros continued to be the better goalie, and his play combined with a key Artturi Lehkonen block got Finland through the penalty without any damage (on the scoreboard, at least).

Mikko Rantanen and Victor Hedman then got into a pretty huge battle, with Hedman hitting Rantanen in what might have been the numbers, but an outcry from Rantanen went unheeded by the NHL officials, who got a memo about him a few months ago. A second hit by Hedman along the boards sent Rantanen back to the bench wincing, and furious. He would return.

The game nearly got tense again, but it stuck at 3-1 after Anton Lundell swept a puck off the goal line behind Saros with Esa Lindell sitting on a goalie stick in the chaos.

Lundell might have been one of Finland’s best players in the game, but even he got denied on a breakaway later in the third (by Gustavsson, in fairness) that would have sealed it. Again, missed chances to make this game an easier one was the theme of the day, for the Finns.

Special teams continued to take a front seat after an Erik Haula penalty put Sweden back on the power play, and this one required a painful block from Niko Mikkola off the inside of his right ankle that sent him to the locker room. But again, Finland (and Saros) managed to escape disaster despite shots on goal ramping up to 14-3 for Sweden in the third period. Sometimes it pays to just lean into the score effects and let them happen, I guess.

Sweden pulled Gustavsson with three minutes to go, but they couldn’t get much of anything to the net with Finland’s bus well and truly parked in the slot. Rantanen would eventually seal it with an ENG from his own blue line, and the Finns would come away with a much-needed and always-savored victory over Sweden to make the group interesting again going into the final game.

Olympic hockey is the best, and this rivalry means every bit as much to these teams as USA/Canada does to its respective countries, and possibly even more, given the history between Sweden and Finland. (Read a book.)