Olympics: Finland Shuts Out Italy 11-0

 

Coming off a 4-1 win over Sweden on Friday, Team Finland kept rolling Saturday at Santagiulia Arena, overwhelming Italy 11-0 in its most dominant showing of the tournament. Twelve Finnish skaters recorded multiple points, which is the most ever by a country in a single Olympic game with NHL participation; as Kaapo Kakko, Mikael Granlund, Sebastian Aho, and Joel Kiviranta each scored twice, while Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia, and Miro Heiskanen also found the back of the net. The 11-goal margin could prove crucial in the standings, as Finland, Slovakia, and Sweden finished with identical records in Group B, but Slovakia claimed the top spot and an automatic quarterfinal berth on goal differential following its 5-3 loss to Sweden earlier Saturday. Sweden will head to Tuesday’s qualification round, while Finland must wait to see if its dominant win is enough to secure the tournament’s lone wild-card spot and the No. 4 seed when preliminary play wraps up Sunday.

Finland Lineup:

Tolvanen - Hintz - Rantanen

Lehkonen - Aho - Teravainen

Luostarinen - Grandlund - Kakko

Kiviranta - Haula - Armia

Heiskanen - Lindell

Mikkola - Ristolainen

Maatta - Matinpalo

Lehtonen - Jokiharju

Saros

Lankinen

Italy Lineup:

Zanetti - Bradley - Gazley

Saracino - Frycklund - De Luca

Frigo - Mantenuto - Petan

Morini - Kostner - Purdeller

Trivellato - Larkin

Zanatta - Pietroniro

Glira - DiTomaso

Seed - Di Perna

Clara

Fadani

At 13:11 of the first period, Sebastian Aho got the party started with his first goal of the Olympics after taking a pass from Mikko Rantanen, who got the puck from Artturi Lehkonen when he played the puck from behind the net to Rantanen, and Aho tapped it home past Damian Clara to give Finland a 1-0 lead. Mikael Granlund made it 2-0 at 10:29 after Miro Heiskanen found Rantanen, who handed the puck over to Granlund. Only 47 seconds later, Kaapo Kakko gave Finland a 3-0 lead from the left side, picking out the top corner of the Italian net.

Joel Kiviranta upped the lead for Finland, making it 4-0 early in the second at 15:56 when he deflected Niko Mikkola's slap shot through Clara's pads. Not long after the fourth Finnish tally, Kakko netted his second of the game to make it 5-0 off a pass from Eetu Luostarinen, rifling it in past Clara. After a goal was disallowed, Granlund made it 6-0 with 2:24 to go in the middle frame when he took a beautiful feed from Kakko to put it over an outstretched Clara.

Heiskanen found the back of the net early in the third period at 18:59 from just inside the blue line, firing it through traffic into the bottom corner on the power play to make it 7-0. Just 33 seconds later, Lehkonen added to the lead to make it 8-0 for Finland. Aho put in his second of the game just two minutes later off a pass from Lehkonen, who got the puck from Henri Jokiharju, and Aho put it in behind Dans Fadani for a 9-0 lead. Joel Armia scored his second goal of the Olympics right off a face-off win by Erik Haula, and after collecting the puck, he buried it past Fadani at 6:34 to make it 10-0. For the 11-0 final, Kiviranta capped the scoring with 2:47 left to play when he took a pass from Armia, who received the puck from Haula, and Kiviranta put it home.

Notes:

- Juuse Saros made 15 saves in his shutout for Finland. He became the sixth different Finnish netminder to record a shutout at an Olympics with NHL players. Saros joins Antero Niittymaki (3x in 2006), Fredrik Norrena (2x in 2006), Tuukka Rask (Feb. 22, 2014), Niklas Backstrom (Feb. 19, 2010), and Miikka Kiprusoff (Feb. 24, 2010).

- Through the first two periods, Damian Clara made 34 saves for Italy. Davide Fadani made 21 saves in relief.

- Sebastian Aho scored his first Olympic goal, with Mikko Rantanen earning an assist. They’re two of Finland’s five 300-goal NHL scorers, joining Teemu Selanne (684), Jari Kurri (601), and Olli Jokinen (321). ...Aho became the third Finnish player to score multiple goals in the game, marking the first time Finland has had three players each net two or more goals in an Olympic contest.

- Mikko Rantanen (0-2--2) became the second Finnish player to record multiple first-period assists in an Olympic game with NHL players, joining Teemu Selanne (Feb. 15, 1998). ...Rantanen (0-3--3) tied Finland’s record for most assists in an Olympic game with NHL players, a mark last reached by Sami Vatanen (Feb. 13, 2014).

- Niko Mikkola became the fourth Finnish defenseman to post assists in consecutive Olympic games with NHL players, following Sami Vatanen (2014), Kimmo Timonen (2006), and Janne Niinimaa (2002). ...Mikkola (0-2--2) and Rasmus Ristolainen (0-2--2) marked just the second time Finland has had multiple defensemen record multiple assists in the same Olympic game with NHL players (also Feb. 16, 2006).

- Mikkola’s three assists this tournament are tied for the third most by a Finnish defenseman at an NHL-participating Olympics, behind Sami Vatanen (5 in 2014) and Kimmo Timonen (4 in 2006).

- Kaapo Kakko became the first Finnish player with a multi-goal game at an NHL-participating Olympics since Teemu Selanne (Feb. 22, 2014 vs. USA). He could become the first Finn to score a hat trick at such an event.

- Finland became the third country with three multi-goal scorers in a single Olympic game with NHL players, joining Team USA (Feb. 18, 2002) and Team Russia (Feb. 13, 1998).

- Finland’s 10 goals set the record for most by any team in a single game at an Olympic tournament featuring NHL players.

- Finland’s 6-0 win over Italy in the preliminary round of the 2006 Torino Games remains its largest shutout victory at an Olympics with NHL players.