Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and Canada fall to Finland at the World Championships

The game unfolded in front of an enthusiastic, near-capacity crowd at Avicii Arena, predominantly cheering for Finland, with only a few hundred Canadian red sweaters scattered among the fans.

Andrew Podnieks from IIHF.com writes that although the first period ended scoreless, it wasn't short on excitement. Phillip Danault had the first quality scoring opportunity near the side of the net, but Juuse Saros slid across to make the stop.

The Canadians successfully contained the first period, but the second led to the game's opening goal, scored shorthanded. The puck bounced off Harri Pesonen's stick at the point, allowing Noah Dobson to grab it and rush down the ice on a two-on-one with former Avalanche forward Ryan O'Reilly. Dobson passed to O'Reilly, who flawlessly slipped the puck past Saros on the stick side.

In a pretty even game, Finland entered the third period with greater urgency and got rewarded. Nikolas Matinpalo's shot from the point was deflected in front by Patrik Puistola, who then pounced on the loose puck at his feet and buried it at 7:01. Suomi maintained the pressure briefly, but Canada pushed back hard and controlled the rest of the game, yet couldn't find the go-ahead goal.

Finland would eventually go on to win the game 2-1 in a shootout.

MacKinnon and Canada will wrap up their preliminary round against the tournament-hosts Sweden on Tuesday at 12:20pm MT.

Source:
IIHF.com
Finland wins thriller in shootout