By Amy Tennery and Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Finland beat Nordic rivals Sweden 4-1 to get their Olympic title defence back on track on Friday, Slovakia held off hosts Italy 3-2 to stay perfect and Czech Republic beat France 6-3 on the third day of the men’s ice hockey tournament.
Gold medallists in 2022, Finland suffered a confidence-rattling defeat by underdogs Slovakia in their group stage opener but were superb in a physical meeting between Europe’s two best teams.
Ottawa Senators defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo and Florida Panthers centre Anton Lundell scored in the first period, as NHL players returned to the Games after a 12-year absence.
Joel Armia added another score in the second, while Mikko Rantanen had the empty netter in the third for Finland.
Sweden is set to play Slovakia while Finland play Italy in the final Group B games on Saturday.
Matinpalo’s slapshot rattled off the post into the net midway through the first period and forward Lundell tipped the puck out of the air and into the Sweden net with less than five minutes to go before the intermission.
Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin trimmed the lead when he sent in a power play goal from the blue line early in the second period. But with Sweden on another power play with a golden opportunity to even the game about eight minutes later, Finland produced a short-handed goal as Erik Haula – smothered by three Swedes against the boards – got the puck out to an open Joel Armia, who flicked it into the net.
Fans have come to expect fireworks every time the two sides meet and they got just that at Santagiulia Arena with a skirmish before the second intermission that put three players from each team in the penalty box to start the third period.
SLOVAKIA STAY PERFECT
Across town, Libor Hudacek got the scoring started on the power play in the second period for Slovakia, whose fans overwhelmed the hosts at Milano Rho arena, and Matus Sukel netted a rebound goal to double the lead 10 minutes later.
Slovakian fans began to chant for ‘este jeden’, meaning ‘one more’, but it was Italy who scored next on a power play.
Phil Pietroniro’s shot from out wide bounced back off the crossbar and Matt Bradley was there to pounce on the loose puck. Italy conceded a third goal in the final period seconds after killing a penalty with Slovak Adam Ruzicka scoring.
Italy refused to lie down, pulling their goalie with over five minutes left and were rewarded when Dustin Gazley scored, but Slovakia withstood the late Italian pressure.
CZECH REPUBLIC POWER PAST FRANCE
France came up short against Czech Republic despite a surprise mid-game fightback in the first of two Group A games in the men’s evening programme.
Martin Necas and Michal Kempny scored in the first period, Boston Bruins alternate captain David Pastrnak and Matej Stransky found the net in the second, while Filip Chlapik and Roman Cervenka scored in quick succession in the third.
Czech Republic were up 2-0 going into the second period when France scored three unanswered goals in six minutes to inject some life into the affair.
But the French party ended when Pastrnak wrapped around the goal and sneaked the puck in to make it 3-3 and Stransky sent in a shorthanded goal during a French line change.
The Czech team, who are 1-1 in group-stage play, next face Switzerland, while the winless French play Canada in the final Group A games on Sunday.
Hot favourites Canada, with its NHL star-studded roster, play Switzerland to close out the men’s programme at Santagiulia on Friday.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery and Trevor Stynes in Milan, additional reporting by Janina Nuno Rios and Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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