Haula scores twice, Armia has 3 points in victory; Rantanen misses game with injury
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Team Finland made sure it didn’t let another two-goal lead slip away by scoring four third-period goals to head home with another Olympic medal in men’s ice hockey.
Erik Haula, Roope Hintz, Kaapo Kakko and Joel Armia scored in the third, and Juuse Saros made 30 saves for Finland, which pulled away to defeat Team Slovakia 6-1 in the bronze medal game of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at Santagiulia Arena in Milan on Saturday.
“Obviously, really cool having an Olympic medal,” Saros said. “We wanted to win this tournament, but obviously cool to bring something home.”
Haula scored two goals, Armia had three points (one goal, two assists) and Hintz had two points (one goal, one assist) for Finland, which rebounded from a blowing a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 loss to Team Canada in the semifinals on Friday. Miro Heiskanen and Eeli Tolvanen each had two assists.
“To be honest, a little bit of mixed feelings to being so close last night to play for the gold medal tomorrow night,” Finland forward Sebastian Aho said. “But really proud of the effort how we came back tonight and we’re probably going to thank ourselves for how we prepared for tonight to win this medal.”
Tomas Tatar scored, and Samuel Hlavaj made 29 saves for Slovakia, which lost 6-2 to Team USA in the semifinals on Friday.
“For myself, it’s definitely the worst loss of my hockey career, so I’m really disappointed,” defenseman Martin Fehervary said. “I felt like we played a good game today. It just didn’t go our way some of the parts of the hockey game. … But everyone wants to win and we don’t have any medal.”
Finland won its fifth medal in the six Olympics that have included NHL players (silver in 2006; bronze in 1998, 2010, 2014, 2026), the most of any country. Canada (gold in 2002, 2010, 2014) will have the second most with four after it plays the United States in the gold medal game Sunday (8:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, NBC, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, CBC, SN [JIP], TSN [JIP], RDS).
Finland won its first gold medal in men’s ice hockey at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, which did not include NHL players. This is the first Olympics with NHL players since the 2014 Sochi Games.
“This is a pretty big deal to win Olympic bronze, especially in a tournament like this where every nation has their best players,” Armia said. “So, for sure, it’s a special team.”
After winning its first Olympic medal in men’s ice hockey with a bronze in Beijing, Slovakia matched its best finish in an Olympics with NHL players. It also finished fourth at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where it lost to Finland in the bronze medal game.
“I think being fourth and being last is the same thing,” forward Juraj Slafkovsky said. “You don’t get a medal, so it [stinks].”
Third-seeded Slovakia defeated fourth-seeded Finland 4-1 in each team’s opening game of the Olympics on Feb. 11 but was unable to do it again with the bronze medal on the line.
“We knew it was going to be very, very hard to beat a team like Finland twice,” Slovakia coach Vladimir Orszagh said. “If you look at the Finnish team, they played better and better game after game. They beat Sweden, they beat [the] Swiss, they played really, really good against Canada. They could be in the final.”
Both teams faced a difficult challenge trying to regroup after losing in the semifinals the previous day. Discouraged after allowing the winning goal to Canada with 35.2 seconds remaining, Finland held a team meeting to refocus.
Heiskanen said veterans such as Mikael Granlund and Olli Maatta as well as general manager Jere Lehtinen and assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu were among those to speak up.
“They were talking mostly and shared their experience [about] what does it mean to go to the bronze game and actually win the bronze medal,” Heiskanen said. “It’s the Olympic games and you have a chance to win a medal, so it’s huge and it was easy to get fired up tonight again.”
Heiskanen, Pennanen on finishing with Bronze Medal
Despite playing without forward Mikko Rantanen, who was sidelined with a lower-body injury he sustained against Canada, Finland started strong and again jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Aho opened the scoring at 7:27 of the first period. Hlavaj stopped Heiskanen’s shot from the left point, but Artturi Lehkonen poked the rebound into the crease and Aho knocked in the loose puck for his team-leading fourth goal of the Olympics.
Haula made it 2-0 at 8:05 of the second period. After taking a backhand pass from Armia in the neutral zone, Haula carried the puck over the blue line before letting go a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Hlavaj high to the short side.
Saros made 14 saves in the second but was victimized on an unfortunate bounce when Tatar scored to bring Slovakia within 2-1 with 30 seconds remaining in the period. Fehervary’s dump-in from the left point ricocheted off the glass into the left corner and caromed in front to Tatar, who lifted a backhand in over Saros’ left pad.
Haula on representing Finland in international competition
Leading 2-1 after two periods, as it had against Canada the day before, Finland was determined not to lose this lead in the third.
“We talked about it in the locker room,” forward Eetu Luostarinen said. “I think we were on top of things. We played good, just made sure yesterday didn’t repeat itself.”
Hintz and Kakko gave Finland breathing room by scoring 42 seconds apart to increase its lead to 4-1. Hintz deflected Heiskanen’s point shot past Hlavaj for a power-play goal at 8:27 before Kakko scored with a right-circle shot that went in off the far post at 9:09.
Armia (15:32) and Haula (18:42) each added an empty-net goal.
NOTES: Aho is tied for the second-most goals in the tournament behind Macklin Celebrini, who has scored five for Canada. … Armia became the first Finnish player with three points in a playoff game during an Olympics with NHL players. He also became the seventh player to get three points in an Olympic medal game with NHL players and first since Pavol Demitra of Slovakia (one goal, two assists in the 2010 bronze medal game). … Fehervary’s assist on Tatar’s goal was his fourth of the tournament. He tied Lubomir Sekeras (four in 1998) for the most by a Slovakian defenseman in an Olympics involving NHL players. … Forward Martin Pospisil (undisclosed) was a late scratch for Slovakia.
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