The China Mail - Last-gasp Canada edge Finland to reach Olympic men's ice hockey final

MacKinnon scored with a slapshot with 36 seconds remaining after Finnish defenseman Niko Mikkola had been sin-binned for high-sticking.

Canada set up a potential showdown with the United States in Sunday's final.

The United States face Slovakia in the other last-four clash later on Friday.

Eyeing their record 10th Olympic title and the first since Sochi 2014, Canada outshot reigning Olympic champions Finland 39-17 in the Santagiulia Arena in Milan.

Finland, who won their first-ever Olympic title at Beijing 2022, were more efficient early in the game.

Mikko Rantanen opened the score for the Finns on 17 minutes with a wrist shot on a power play, just after Sebastian Aho had won a face-off.

Eric Haula made it 2-0 on 24 minutes with a shorthanded goal and a neat backhand finish on a break.

That was a wake-up call for Canada and Sam Reinhart brought them within a goal with just under six minutes remaining in the second period, tipping in Cale Makar's shot on a power play.

Defenseman Shea Theodore made it 2-2 at 50:34 with a slapshot after Brad Marchand had thrown Saros off with a tackle as Canada kept pushing.

Connor McDavid had two assists, taking his tournament-leading points tally to 2+11.

McDavid replaced Sidney Crosby as the Canada captain after the Pittsburgh Penguins star was ruled out with an injury he had picked up in the quarter-final against the Czech Republic.

Both Canada and Finland have rosters packed with players from the National Hockey League (NHL), who are competing at the Olympic Games for the first time since 2014.

S.Wilson--ThChM