Canada vs. Finland Men’s Olympic Hockey: Semifinal Preview, Odds and Prediction
A chance to play for gold is on the line as Team Canada faces Team Finland in the semifinal of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament on Friday.
Canada secured the top overall seed in the tournament with a dominant preliminary round, but they were given a scare in their 4-3 overtime win over Czechia in the quarterfinals. The concern now shifts to injury watch for the Canadians, particularly with captain Sidney Crosby.
Like Canada, Finland needed to mount a late comeback to send their quarterfinal game against Switzerland to overtime before they ultimately prevailed 3-2. The question is which Finnish team will show up against Canada, the one that suffered a shocking tournament-opening loss against Slovakia or the one that beat Sweden, Italy and Switzerland?
Team Canada is a sizeable -500 favourite to win, with the puckline set at 2.5 and the total pegged at 5.5. Finland is a +375 underdog.
Make sure to check out Sports Interaction’s complete list of Olympic hockey game odds, Olympic hockey futures and Olympic hockey specials and props.
Canada vs. Finland Men’s Olympic Hockey Betting Odds
Canada cruised through the preliminary round, going 3-0 while outscoring their opponents 20-3 to claim top spot in Group A. After a surprising loss to open the tournament, Finland did well to bounce back with commanding wins over Sweden and Italy to finish second in Group B.
Both teams entered this tournament with gold-or-bust mentalities. Canada has won a record nine gold medals in the men’s Olympic tournament, including gold in the last two Olympics with NHL participation. The Finns are the defending gold medal champions and they have medalled at four of the last five Olympics.
Team Canada entered the Olympics as the gold medal favourites and that’s where they remain at -130. Finland is +1600 to defend gold, ahead of only Slovakia at +3500.
If you’re looking for a reasonable futures play outside of Canada winning gold, I like Finland to take bronze at -125. It’s very hard to beat the same team twice in tournaments like this and I’m fully expecting a Finland-Slovakia bronze medal game.
Team Canada
The focus in the lead up to the semi’s will clearly be on the health of Crosby, who left Wednesday’s quarterfinal win in the second period and did not return. Crosby fell awkwardly after a hit and appeared to be favouring his right leg. However, head coach Jon Cooper said on Thursday that the 38-year-old is “by no means” ruled out of the semifinals or tournament.
In other injury news, Sam Bennett said he didn’t play in the quarterfinals because of an illness. Bennett practiced on Thursday and said he feels much better and he’ll be ready for the semi’s. Defenceman Josh Morrissey also practiced on Thursday, but his status is unclear after missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury.
If Crosby can’t go, Nick Suzuki likely slots in as Canada’s third centre. Suzuki, who had been playing the wing, looked much more comfortable at centre on Wednesday and scored the tying goal with under four minutes left in regulation.
Team Finland
Finland was sweating in the quarterfinals as they trailed Switzerland 2-0 until past the midway point of the third period. Sebastian Aho and Miro Heiskanen each found the back of the net late to send the game to overtime before Artturi Lehkonen came in clutch with the game winner. Lehkonen (2G, 5A) and Mikko Rantanen (1G, 4A) lead the Finns in points.
Juuse Saros could be Finland’s X-factor in this game. The Nashville Predators netminder is having a stellar tournament, ranking third in both goals-against average (1.49) and save percentage (.938). If Saros can shutdown Canada’s high-flying offence, the Finns have a chance to grind out a win.
However, even if Saros stands on his head, Finland needs more from their offensive stars. I particularly look at Rantanen as one goal in four games simply isn’t good enough. Rantanen is one of the most clutch playoff performers in NHL history, so I can’t imagine the stage is too big for him.
Canada vs. Finland Prediction
Canada: 3, Finland: 2
Best bet: Connor McDavid Over 1.5 points (-145). McDavid is on another level right now with 11 points (2G, 9A) in four games and with Crosby potentially out, McDavid’s urgency to produce will be sky-high.