Finland’s biggest weakness sinks them against United States in 4 Nations opener
Leading up to the 4 Nations Faceoff tournament, every country had at least one player originally named to the roster back out due to injury.
In the case of Finland, they had three players bow out – all of them being defensemen. Jani Hakanpaa, Miro Heiskanen and Rasmus Ristolainen were all not available for the tournament due to injury. On an already shallow Finland defense corps, it has proven to be costly early on.
On the heels of a 6-1 drubbing defeat to USA, Finland’s glaring weakness ultimately sunk them: their defense. Struggling to contain a relentless, heavy, and effective forecheck by the Americans, the Finnish blueline was under the microscope (for all the wrong reasons) the entire game.
“They forecheck very well,” said Finland defenseman Henri Jokiharju after the game. “You have to be aware when they’re coming. Sometimes, they fake out; they make it seem like they’re coming hard when they aren’t. They can be tricky sometimes.”
Finland’s shallow defense was evident in the club’s ice time. Nikolas Mantinpalo and Urho Vaakanainen were relied on sparingly as the club’s bottom pair, with each logging just 14:32 and 13:12 of time on ice, respectively. Conversely, all of Finland’s top four rearguards had at least 19 minutes of TOI to finish the game.
The Americans gave the Finnish defensemen fits all night. The relentless USA attack routinely resulted in the Finland defense corps throwing blind passes up the wall — often resulting in turnovers — and struggling to exit the defensive zone with possession. The Americans’ pressure was consistently running interference on Finland (as a whole) having the puck on their sticks.
Finland did somewhat turn things around in the second period, keeping it a tie game until the ending moments of the middle stanza. Finland’s forwards did help turn the tide, helping take pressure off their defense with possession in the attacking zone. They largely dominated the territorial play through the first 14 minutes of the second period, keeping the puck away from the Americans. Unfortunately, every time the Americans gained possession in the Finnish end, it resulted in dangerous chances; it ultimately wound up in the back of the net behind goaltender Jusse Saros with a little less than three minutes left to go in the second period.
“I think we played a really good first and second period,” forward Joel Armia told reporters after the game. “We had chances to score a few goals in the second. A couple of quick goals (for Team USA) in the third period kind of took the life out of our game.”
The Americans came on strong and were hot and heavy in the third to blow things wide open. After a seeing-eye shot from Matthew Tkachuck (off a deflection from Niko Mikkola in a case of friendly fire) beat Saros high, Jake Guentzel struck just 11 seconds later. After beating Saros five-hole – one he would most certainly like to have back – the floodgates opened for the Americans, and they never looked back en route to the blowout victory.
The Fins were stunned by the Americans’ early onslaught and struggled to rebound. Even though they had been able to muster up some offense through the first 60 minutes, the results didn’t come. But for Finland, not much of their process was different from the first 60 minutes to the final 20.
“I don’t think a lot changed (with our offensive scheme in the final period),” said forward Artturi Lehkonen. “They were really effective in their chances. A lucky goal (to start the third) and that was it.”
Unlike Sweden before them, Finland’s forwards weren’t the problem in this game. They were able to sustain pressure in the offensive zone while being the biggest factor in keeping the puck out of their own net. As the saying goes, “The best defense is a good offense.” Unfortunately, the injury-riddled Finnish blueline was the main culprit.
Whenever the Americans sustained possession and pressure in Finland’s end something happened. The Finnish blueliners were unable to break up plays, get in shooting lanes or be able to contain the relentless American forecheck. In particular, Brady and Matthew Tkachuk (both registering two goals each) caused chaos for all evening long.
As for Saros – someone who was viewed as a potential X Factor for his country entering the tournament – I don’t think there is much more anyone could’ve asked of him. Was Saros perfect? Of course not, but (aside from the third goal) there were no clear-cut, bad goals that he gave up. He quietly put together a very impressive first 60 minutes of play; when the Finnish defense’s armor started to crack, he couldn’t weld it back together.
On the positive side, I think Finland’s forwards displayed an ability to generate chances when in the offensive zone. Mikko Rantanen, in particular, had a strong night for his country. The forwards for the Fins did show promise but did not have nearly enough support from the back end to consistently have possession in the offensive zone.
The Finnish forwards’ inability to control exits out of their own end limited their offensive potential. Often having to win loose puck battles in the neutral zone, too much pressure was put on Team Finland’s forwards to not only gain possession but also generate offense and execute it.
Especially with the three injuries leading up to the tournament, the clear cut Achilles Heel for Team Finland was their defense. Team USA heavily exposed that in game one and is something that will need to be looked at closely by the Finnish coaching staff. Saros can only do so much to bail his team out, and if Team Finland is unable to figure out things in their own end, they may end up showing everyone why they were viewed as the overwhelming underdog entering the 4 Nations Faceoff.
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