Finland, Slovakia look to ‘turn the page’ in Olympic bronze medal game

MILAN -- For Team Finland and Team Slovakia, there actually is a tomorrow.

Each team lost in the semifinals of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 men’s ice hockey tournament on Friday, but unlike the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where losing a make-or-break game means the end of the season, each lived to see another day.

That will be Saturday, when the Finns and Slovaks dust themselves off and meet in the bronze medal game (2:40 p.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI Tele, CBC Gem, CBC [JIP]).

Finland lost a heartbreaker to Canada, blowing a 2-0 lead and falling on Nathan MacKinnon’s power-play goal with 35.2 seconds left in regulation. Team Slovakia was never that close, falling 6-2 to the United States.

“It’s not a good feeling right now,” Finland forward Kaapo Kakko said. “But it’s still a big game tomorrow. And it’s something you still want to win.”

For three members of Team Finland, not only is it a bad feeling, it’s an unfamiliar one.

This is the first time since the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs that forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell and defenseman Niko Mikkola have experienced the feeling of losing an elimination game. All three have been part of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships for the Florida Panthers. Mikkola, as a member of the New York Rangers, was eliminated in the first round by the New Jersey Devils in 2023, while Lundell and Luostarinen lost in the Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights.

“Obviously it [stinks],” Luostarinen said, “but we still have a game and just try to put all of our focus on that.”

Said Lundell: “We have to turn the page and move forward.”

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Finland-Canada

This will be the second time in the tournament the two teams have played each other. Slovakia beat Finland 4-1 in the first game of the preliminary round on Feb. 11. Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice in the game for Slovakia. He has eight points (four goals, four assists) heading into the bronze game.

Finland responded by winning the next two games to finish second in Group B and earned the wild card into the quarterfinals, where it beat Switzerland 3-2 in overtime.

Slovakia went 1-0-1-0 after the Finland win, but when it lost 5-3 to Sweden on Feb. 14, it won Group B on goal-differential. It then disposed of Germany 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

"It's going to be a way different game than the first game of the tournament,” Slafkovsky said. “We're playing for a medal here, and they want it, we want it, so it's going to be a way harder game.”

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Slovakia-USA

They also need to clean up their game. The Slovaks were uncharacteristically undisciplined on Friday, taking five penalties and struggling all night to get an offensive flow going.

"We kind of played the hockey we didn't play the whole tournament,” forward Martin Fehervary said. “I mean, obviously they (United States) have a pretty good team, so they took advantage, and then a couple of just stupid penalties by us and by me as well. And we just have to be better tomorrow.”

Finland and Slovakia also met in the 2022 Beijing Olympic semifinals, Finland winning 2-0 on its way to the gold medal. Slovakia won bronze, its only Olympic medal ever in men’s hockey. Those Olympics were played without NHL players. The two teams also met in the bronze medal game in 2010 in Vancouver, Finland winning 5-3.

“Obviously, it’s still a medal, so yeah, you want to bring something home,” Finnish goalie Juuse Saros said.

They still have a chance on Saturday.

"I mean, it's still a bronze medal from the Olympic Games with the best players,” Fehervary said. “So it's pretty exciting as well, but obviously a little bit disappointed for today, but we just got to throw it away and make sure we are focused for tomorrow."