Striker Sakari Manninen freed the Nokia Arena ice rink by scoring the golden goal against the reigning world champions to offer his country a fourth world crown after those of 1995, 2011 and 2019 and the Olympic title obtained in Beijing in February.
Finnish striker Sakari Manninen scores the golden goal (4-3 ap) against the Canadians, reigning world champions, who offer a 4th world crown to his country, on May 29, 2022 in Tampere Jonathan NACKSTRAND AFP
Yet it was the Canadians, dominated in the first period, who opened the scoring thanks to a long shot from Dylan Cozens throwing freezing cold into the ice rink won over to the Finnish cause (1-0, 24:00).
The Red and Whites resisted the Finnish attackers for a long time thanks to their goalkeeper Chris Driedger (16 saves), but the temporary expulsion of Cole Sillinger for a high butt kick changed the game.
Finland's Mikael Granlund took advantage of the two minutes on the power play to find the net twice (2-1, 44:12 then 45:57).
His teammate Joel Armia made the score worse by taking advantage of the crush in the North American defense following a face-off to take the puck and score (3-1, 54:04)
The Canadians however snatched the extension at the very end of the game by coming back to the score with the exit of their goalkeeper to create the numerical superiority in attack through Zach Whitecloud (3-2, 57:48), then Max Comtois ( 3-3, 58:36).
In overtime, the Finns once again took advantage of another Canadian temporary expulsion to score the winning goal.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Czech Republic clinched the bronze medal against the United States (8-4).
© 2022 AFP