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Finland stunned Sweden at the Olympics in OT before USA-Germany

Finland beat Sweden in overtime 4-3 to erase a three-goal deficit. This result sends each archrival into the quarterfinals for the men's hockey tournament at Rio.

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Finland stunned Sweden at the Olympics in OT before USA-Germany

The United States could win the top seed by defeating Germany later in the day. This would place Finland as the second seed, with the Russians being third and Sweden fourth respectively in the knockout round.

Canada will be seeded fifth by Finland and Sweden, and must play in the qualification round on Tuesday. Canada and the hosts would meet again two days later, barring an unlikely upset loss by China in the preliminary round finale.

With its third-period return, Finland got some rest. Teemu Hartikainen was able to score the Finns early in the third, and Iiro Paikarinen scored twice within the last five minutes of regulation. Harri Pesonen was the winner at 2:01 of 3-on-3 OT.

Sweden led 3-0 at the half-way mark of the second period thanks to power-play goals scored by Lukas Bengtsson, Anton Lander, and Lucas Wallmark. After the second intermission, Finland beat Sweden 16-3.

Finland played the majority of the game without Markus Granlund (ex-NHL forward), who was penalized for a match for illegally checking Philip Holm's head and could face suspension.

Slovakia beat Latvia 5-2 earlier Sunday to claim its first tournament victory. Juraj Slafkovsky (17-year-old forward) scored his fourth goal. He is expected to be one of the top-10 NHL draft picks this summer.

Slafkovsky had scored all the goals for Slovakia in its first two games. The team got some production against Latvia with goals from Martin Marincin, an ex-NHL defenseman, and forwards Peter Cehlarik (and Peter Zuzin).

Tomas Jurco, a former NHL forward, stated that "a lot of other guys finally scored, not just Juraj." "It's great for the team that other guys get on board. We're happy we won."

Latvia, which is expected to be seeded 11th, will face sixth-seeded Denmark in Tuesday's qualification round, unless Canada is upset by host China. According to other actions, Slovakia will likely be seeded eighth to ninth and face the defending silver medalist Germany during the qualification round.

"I believe we can beat anyone if we play our game and act like a team," stated Craig Ramsay, Slovakia coach. He was an NHL assistant for 22 years. "The most important thing is not individual hockey, but team play. We are a strong group and look great when we play as a team. We are no different from anyone else when we play as individuals.


 


 

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