MacKinnon scores late, Canada tops Finland to advance to gold medal game

MILAN -- Team Canada continued its cardiac ways at Santagiulia Arena on Friday, surviving a second straight scare, this time against Team Finland in the semifinal of the men's hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Canada scored three unanswered goals, including the game-winner by Nathan MacKinnon with 35.2 seconds remaining in the third, for a 3-2 victory that sent it to the gold medal game, its third-straight trip in Olympic tournaments involving NHL players.

The top-seeded Canadians will play the winner of the other semifinal between Team USA and Team Slovakia, on Sunday (8:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, NBC, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, CBC, SN [JIP], TSN [JIP], RDS2).

They are the first team to have consecutive comeback wins in the playoffs of an Olympics featuring NHL participation to advance to the gold medal game. They rallied multiple times in a 4-3 overtime win against Team Czechia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Finland-Canada

Sebastian Aho and Erik Haula scored for Finland, the No. 4 seed, which will play for bronze here Saturday (2:40 p.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, CBC [JIP]). Juuse Saros made 36 saves.

"We played good as a team," Saros said. "Played good defensively. It was an all-around good effort from everyone."

But it wasn't enough to slay this magical Canada team.

After not trailing in any Olympic game involving NHL players since the preliminary round of 2010 in Vancouver, Canada fell behind for the second time in as many games on Friday.

Connor McDavid, serving as captain because of the absence of Sidney Crosby, who was out with a lower-body injury, said his team is comfortable playing from behind and it showed in this rally, just as it did two nights earlier.

"We understood we were in a tough spot, and we had to find a way to get out of it," said McDavid, who had two assists, including a saucer pass on the winning goal. "We did it. Credit to us. We can't put ourselves in that spot again."

McDavid finished the game with two assists and has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in five games, to set the record for most points in a single Olympics involving NHL players.

The winning goal illustrated the relentlessness of Canada in this tournament. Their top line was out for a long shift, penning in the Finns, winning battles for puck possession.

"[MacKinnon] got rewarded for the wall battle right before that," Canada coach Jon Cooper said. "It had been a long shift for the guys, a long way to go in the change, but he won that wall battle, kept everything alive and eventually it gets around to McDavid, and he throws it around again. [McDavid] is probably not giving himself enough credit."

Finland unsuccessfully challenged the MacKinnon goal for offside. When it failed, Canada was on its way to performing another Houdini act on the game's biggest stage.

"You can't just be a team that plays well with the lead, you have to be a team that can battle through adversity, battle hard when you are down and not change your game no matter what the score is," Canada forward Sam Bennett said. "We showed again that we can do that."

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

Shea Theodore tied the game for Canada at 2-2 at 10:34 of the third with a rising slapper through traffic. Jordan Binnington made 15 saves.

Mikko Rantanen gave Finland a 1-0 lead at 16:55 of the first with a one-timer off a faceoff win by Sebastian Aho against Bo Horvat.

After going up 2-0, the Finns set back in a more defensive posture. They managed eight shots after Haula's at 3:26 of the second period, which was a short-handed goal.

"I mean they are a good team," said Joel Armia, who set up Haula's goal. "We maybe got a little bit away from our good breakouts and that maybe put us more in the defensive mode. They had two power-play goals. Five-on-five, they have one and I think it is goalie interference. I don't think we gave them that many Grade-A's."

Sam Reinhart made it 2-1 with a power-play goal at 14:20 of the second. Cale Makar walked the blue line before flicking a wrist shot into traffic. Reinhart deflected it with his stick, causing the puck to change direction and skirt past Saros.

"He's the best in the world in taking that ice," Reinhart said of Makar. "A lot of it is being in the right spot for him; you are trying to take the goalie's eyes away because he has probably the best shot in the world. That is why he is the best in the world."

NOTES: Crosby, who was injured in the win against Czechia on Wednesday, has not been ruled out of the gold medal game. … MacKinnon became the second player to score a go-ahead goal in the final minute of regulation during an Olympics featuring NHL players, and the first to do so in the playoff round. … Canada is the third team to have a multigoal comeback win in an Olympics featuring NHL players, but the first to do it to advance to the gold medal game. … McDavid, who set the points record in an Olympics involving NHL players, passed Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu, who each had 11 points for Finland in the 2006 Torino Games.