MONTREAL — Mikael Granlund etched his name in Finland's hockey lore.
The forward buried the winner at 1:49 of 3-on-3 overtime Saturday to help his country defeat Sweden 4-3 at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
After the Swedes had a great chance off the stick of Mika Zibanejad in the extra period, Granlund moved in on an odd-man rush and fired five-hole on Linus Ullmark to secure Finland two points in the standings.
"It's always great to beat Sweden," said the 32-year-old recently traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Dallas Stars. "Those games are fun to play. There's so many people in Finland (and) in Sweden to watch these games. It's great to come (out) on top, and at the same time we are alive in this tournament.
"Everything is in our own hands."
Anton Lundell, Mikko Rantanen and Aleksander Barkov had the goals in regulation for the Finns against their bitter rivals. Kevin Lankinen stopped 21 shots. Patrik Laine had two assists.
"These are the kind of opportunities that you dream of," said Lankinen, the Vancouver Canucks netminder who got the start over Juuse Saros. "You prepare so hard that whenever an opportunity shows up, you just go out and play."
Zibanejad, Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson replied for the Swedes.
Filip Gustavsson allowed two goals on four shots in the first period before leaving the game with an illness. Ullmark made 15 saves in relief.
"The puck dances pretty much on goal line (in OT) and then Finland executes well," Swedish head coach Sam Hallam said. "It should be tight, it is tight, and we are very disappointed."
Sweden also lost 4-3 to Canada in OT to open the tournament Wednesday, but earned a point in the standings for each extra-time loss. Finland was thumped 6-1 by the United States on Thursday at the round-robin tournament that's a table-setter for the NHL's Olympic return in 2026.
"Losing 6-1 is not great, but we knew we did a lot of good things," said Barkov, captain of both Finland and the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. "We just had learn from that game, take all the good things that we did."
The Canadians and Americans were set to play later Saturday at the Bell Centre. The 4 Nations will then shift to Boston. The Finns meet Canada on Monday afternoon, while Sweden plays the U.S. in the night game.
The U.S. leads the table with three points followed by Canada (two), Finland (two) and Sweden (two).
The tournament's one-game final between the teams with the two best records goes Thursday at TD Garden.
Sweden opened Saturday's scoring at 8:35 of the first when Zibanejad fired five-hole on Lankinen. The Finns replied at 10:58 when Lundell scored on a 2-on-1 before Rantanen beat Gustavsson on a power play with 13.9 seconds left in the period.
"We started a game the way we wanted," Hallam said. "We gave up a really simple situation on Finland's first goal, and I think the game changed a bit there. We were playing confident, we were playing quick, finding good ways for the puck.
"After that, Finland got a bit of hope and a bit of jump in their game."
Sweden turned to Ullmark in goal to start the second and got back even when Dahlin scored at 5:06 of the middle period.
Karlsson pushed his country ahead 3-2 off the rush when he took a pass from William Nylander and fired past Lankinen's blocker on the short side at 10:32, but Barkov tied it up again from in tight with 2:55 left before the intermission.
Russia, banned because of its war in Ukraine, and reigning world champion Czechia aren't part of the field that's still the closest men's hockey has seen to best-on-best hockey since the 2016 World Cup.
The NHL went to five Olympics between 1998 and 2014 before skipping 2018 for financial reasons. The league then withdrew from the 2022 Games because of COVID-19 concerns.
The 4 Nations is a big sign post on the road back to the sporting world's biggest spectacle.
"Everything is in our own hands," Granlund said of Saturday's victory. "We just move on for Monday."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
