Finland beats Sweden 4-1 in feisty men’s hockey game between archrivals at Milan Cortina Olympics

MILAN — Finland showed it has plenty of fight in reviving its Olympic campaign.

Joel Armia scored a shorthanded goal and the Finns outmuscled archrival Sweden in a 4-1 group-stage victory Friday — 20 years after the sides squared off in the gold-medal game at the Turin Games.

Finland’s win — after losing its opener at the Milan Cortina Games to Slovakia — leaves the group’s quarterfinal spot up for grabs Saturday.

‘’Everybody was fired up for this, and I’m sure they were too,’’ Finland defenseman Olli Maatta said. ‘’These are unbelievable games to play in, and I’m very happy with the win today. We’ve just got to build off that.’’

The scrappy affair featured pushing and shoving at the end of the second period, even if the stakes were lower than the 2006 Turin Games final. Sweden won that one, in a game that still resonates today for both countries.

Friday’s third period opened with three players in the penalty box for each team — five for roughing and one for holding.

Lundell to the rescue

‘’I don’t really know what happened, but all of sudden the puck was going in the net and I was lucky to be close and I was lucky that nobody pushed it in before me,’’ the Florida Panthers center said. ‘’That was a big moment for the team, as well. We want to hold the lead in the third and not give any momentum to them.’’

No one was happier than goalie Juuse Saros: ‘’Obviously a big thanks to him.’’ Saros made 34 saves.

Hard work pays off for Finland

The Finns consistently outworked their rivals on the boards and were rewarded on a second-period penalty kill when Erik Haula shielded the puck from three Swedes and passed to Armia, who was alone in front of net to make it 3-1.

Finland scored twice in the opening period before Sweden fought back with a Rasmus Dahlin power-play goal in the second to make it 2-1. The Buffalo Sabres star beat Saros with a one-timer from William Nylander’s pass.

The Finns doubled their lead thanks to hard work in the corner by Eetu Luostarinen, whose shot on net hit Panthers teammate Lundell’s stick, went off Gustavsson and in.

Finland killed off two power plays in the third period before Mikko Rantanen scored an empty-net goal to seal the victory.

Tensions frayed in the closing seconds of the end of the second period. Three helmets ended up on the ice after the horn blew, as players pushed and shoved around Finland’s net.

‘’You’re down, you’ve got to do something to try to change the momentum," Sweden forward Adrian Kempe said, ‘’so you just try to get in there and create or something just to turn our game around and fire your teammates up or fans or whatever it is.’’

Early in the third, Sweden defenseman Philip Broberg skated to the bench holding his right shoulder after taking a hit behind the net from Roope Hintz.

Slovakia beats Italy

Adam Ruzicka’s third-period goal stood up as the winner in Slovakia’s 3-2 victory over host nation Italy. Matus Sukel and Libor Hudacek also scored for Slovakia, which improved to 2-0 following a tournament-opening win over Finland.

Stanislav Skorvanek stopped 20 shots in the win.

Dustin Gazley, who cut the lead to 3-2 with 3:35 remaining, scored and assisted on Matt Bradley’s goal for Italy, which dropped to 0-2.

Both Gazley and Bradley are among Italy’s crop of foreign-born players.

The four group winners in the 12-team tournament qualify directly to the quarterfinals. The other eight teams enter a one-game playoff to join the final eight.

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