Clinching scenarios at the 4 Nations Face Off: Finland stays alive
MONTREAL, Quebec – Saturday, February 15th, 2025. A day circled on a great number of calendars as it was the first time we've had best-on-best matches between two heated rivals. Sweden vs. Finland and Canada vs. USA.
The results of Saturday's games will set the stage for the which teams have a chance at taking home the title.
In the early tilt, rivals Sweden and Finland took centre stage and provided a terrific, back-and-forth game than resulted in our second 3-on-3 overtime frame in three tries. Sweden lost the first one to Canada on Wednesday. They lost this one to Finland on Saturday as well as Mikael Granlund played the hero role.
For Finland, they needed at least a point to remain mathematically in contention. But they needed even more to have a realistic shot. They knew what the stakes were and are thrilled to provide their fans with at least one more game in contention.
“Hopefully, they’re as happy as we are in here." Mikko Rantanen spoke of the fans back in Finland. "Hopefully they’re having a good one tonight.”
“Playing against Sweden… everyone's going to be fired up.” Captain Aleksander Barkov stated post-game. "We don't give up. We needed to win this one."
Patrik Laine shared his thoughts on the rivalry. "We’re the big brother now.”
For Sweden, a regulation win would have set them up to control their own destiny. A win on Monday against Team USA would have sealed it. Now, with just two points through two games, Sweden finds themselves at the bottom of the standings. They need a lot of help to get to that final matchup next Thursday in Boston.
Clinching Scenarios
• USA is the only team who can clinch a spot in the finals today. A regulation win against Canada will secure it. Anything less than that means they'll need more points in their final game.
• A regulation win for Canada against USA on Saturday night will give them five points They would need just a single point against Finland on Monday to secure themselves a spot.
• Sweden now needs a regulation win against Team USA on Monday to get to five points, but also needs Canada to beat the US in regulation on Saturday and get a point against Finland on Monday. That would set up a Canada-Sweden final.
• Finland needs a regulation win against Canada on Monday to get to five points. They would need USA to win in regulation against Canada AND against Sweden. Then we'd have a Finland-USA final.
