We are down to four teams as we’ve reached the semifinals of these Olympic Games. After Canada barely squeezed past Czechia, it now faces Finland who have historically been a tough opponent to play. In the other semifinal, the United States takes on the tournament surprise in Slovakia. Here’s how it unfolded.

Well … no one ever said it was going to be easy. Cardiologists across the country should see a boom in business. The whole country may have registered on the Richter scale with everyone shaking with nerves all at once.

Entering the game without captain Sidney Crosby, everyone needed to step up in his absence. But it wasn’t the start anyone would have envisioned. Canada had a couple of early looks but wouldn’t be the ones to open the scoring. With just under five minutes to play in the opening period, former Flame Sam Bennett took a bad penalty by crashing into Finnish goaltender Juuse Saros after taking a shot. Right off the face-off on the Finnish power play, Mikko Rantanen wristed a shot past Jordan Binnington to make it 1-0.

In the second, Canada came out with some jump and controlled the pace early, leading to Finland taking a penalty. When Canada is on the power play, a goal feels almost always guaranteed — just not usually by the opponent. Nathan MacKinnon tried to knock down a clearing attempt but ended up slowing the puck just enough for Erik Haula to catch up and race in on a breakaway, beating Binnington on the backhand to put Finland up by two.

At this level, even a two-goal deficit can feel like ten. Canada wouldn’t let that goal knock it down, though. It continued to control the pace and the majority of possession, but Finland was suffocating the neutral zone and getting to loose pucks first, not allowing Canada to get anything set up.

Then Finland took another penalty. It felt like Canada needed to score to stay in the game. Cale Makar found open space at the top of the zone and fired a shot toward the net. Sam Reinhart — who had been very quiet all tournament — managed to get a stick on it and redirected the puck past Saros to bring Canada within one and give it life. They got the goal they needed.

Then came the third period. Canada was pressing, and Macklin Celebrini was all over it. He had eight shots in the game but just couldn’t beat Saros.

With just over 10 minutes to play, the line of Tom Wilson, Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand was on the ice. That’s a trio you’re more scared will take a bad penalty at this point in the game, but they defied those odds and put Finland under pressure in its own zone. After a couple of Finnish blocked shots, the puck came to Shea Theodore, who took a slapshot from the point that beat Saros and tied the game at two.

On the play, Marchand was pushed into Saros before the shot was taken. Finland could have challenged for goaltender interference but couldn’t risk being wrong and taking another penalty. The goal stood and Canada had made it even.

The final 10 minutes were intense. There wasn’t a lot of room on the ice to create anything, but both teams still managed a couple of chances. Binnington made a nice save on Sebastian Aho from the slot and Saros was saving shots from every direction.

With just over two minutes left in the third, disaster for Finland as Niko Mikkola high-sticked MacKinnon in the corner. The last thing Finland could do was send Canada to the power play with the game on the line.

On the ensuing man advantage, it was all Canada. They had Finland hemmed in its own zone and moved the puck around really well. Saros continued to stand on his head making save after save but, just as the power play was expiring and overtime seemed inevitable, Connor McDavid spotted an open MacKinnon, who one-timed a shot that snuck between Saros’ pad and the post to put Canada up by one late.

But it wouldn’t be right without more drama. As the country celebrated the goal, Finland made a last-ditch effort and challenged the play for offside. The country held its breath as the linesmen reviewed the play. It was close — almost too close. After a couple of minutes, the referee announced the call and the goal stood, allowing Canada to exhale. As a bonus, this put Canada on the power play with 35 seconds left in the game.

It would have been nice to say Canada closed out the game with ease but, of course, Finland made a last-ditch effort. With the final seconds ticking down, Sebastian Aho got the puck streaking into the Canadian zone and managed to get a shot off, though it wasn’t very strong, and Binnington made the save. Finland got one more opportunity with a last-second faceoff but Canada won the draw as time ran out.

Canada somehow completed the comeback and won the game to advance to the gold-medal game. It marks the first time a team has completed a comeback twice in a row to advance to the gold-medal game. Good on Canada but a little less drama would be better for our hearts.

Now to see who they would be facing.

The United States had a tough quarterfinal match-up against Sweden that they won in overtime to get to the semifinals. You could say it was a more favourable match-up to play Slovakia, but Slovakia has had a really good tournament. There was always the chance they could put up a fight.

It didn’t start out that way, though. The first period was all United States. Slovakia just couldn’t keep up with the Americans’ speed and it was that speed that forced the Slovakians into turning the puck over or making bad passes.

It took only four minutes for the United States to jump out ahead. Dylan Larkin rushed into the Slovak zone and wristed one past Samuel Hlavaj to make it 1-0.

Slovakia began to settle into the period. It had a couple of power plays but couldn’t generate any truly dangerous scoring chances as Connor Hellebuyck was solid, making eight saves in the frame.

With less than a minute left in the period, the Americans added a second goal off a Tage Thompson power-play marker to take a comfortable lead after one period.

The second period was a parade to the penalty box. Six minor penalties were taken in the frame, though neither team was able to capitalize with the man advantage.

Still, the United States managed three goals in the period, with Jack Hughes collecting a pair and Jack Eichel picking up one himself.

After the fourth goal of the period, Slovakia pretty much threw in the towel. They knew they weren’t going to score five goals on the Americans in a period and a half, so they switched goaltenders to give Hlavaj a break so he could rest up ahead of tomorrow’s bronze-medal game against Finland.

Juraj Slafkovsky and Pavol Regenda each managed to score for Slovakia, but an insurance marker from Brady Tkachuk confirmed what we already knew. This was a one-sided affair in which the U.S. won 6-2.

Slovakia now has a date with Finland in the bronze-medal game. It should be a good match-up, as Slovakia beat Finland in the Olympic opener in a game that essentially altered the standings. Finland will be looking for revenge.

It wouldn’t feel like a proper Olympics without a Canada versus United States matchup. What better place to have it than in the gold-medal game? Everyone around Canada now has no excuse but to wake up early Sunday morning to watch Canada go for gold.

🇫🇮 Finland vs 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 12:40 p.m. MT

🇨🇦 Canada vs 🇺🇸 United States, 6:10 a.m. MT

Catch Every Goal from the 2026 Milan Games! The 2026 Milan Games are almost here, and the world’s best men’s and women’s hockey players are ready to battle for gold! The Nation Network is bringing you every game, every jaw-dropping save, and all the drama with live reaction streams and full recaps. Don’t miss a moment of Olympic hockey action—men’s, women’s, and everything in between—on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel. Subscribe now and stay on top of every play!