MacKinnon’s Late Goal Sends Canada to Gold-Medal Game

Nathan MacKinnon scored on a late power play and Canada rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Finland 3–2 in Friday’s semifinal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. The victory sends Canada to Sunday’s gold-medal game against the United States.

MacKinnon scored with 35.2 seconds remaining in the third period. The goal stood following a video review for a potential offside on the zone entry. Sam Reinhart and Shea Theodore also scored for Canada, which outshot Finland 39–17. Jordan Binnington made 15 saves in the win.

Connor McDavid recorded two assists, bringing his tournament total to 13 points — the most by an NHL player in a single Olympic Games.

Finland opened the scoring late in the first period on a power-play goal by Mikko Rantanen. Erik Haula extended the lead to 2–0 early in the second period on a short-handed breakaway.

Canada cut the deficit to one at 14:20 of the second when Reinhart redirected a point shot from Cale Makar. Theodore tied the game at 10:34 of the third period with a one-time shot from the slot. MacKinnon’s winner came on a sustained power play sequence, finishing a cross-ice pass from McDavid.

Canadian captain Sidney Crosby did not play after suffering a lower-body injury in Wednesday’s quarterfinal victory over Czechia. McDavid wore the captain’s ‘C’ in his absence.

Finland will play in Saturday’s bronze-medal game against Slovakia, which fell 6–2 to the United States in the other semifinal.

Canada advances to its first Olympic men’s hockey gold-medal game since Sochi 2014, the last Games to feature NHL player participation prior to 2026.

The gold-medal game between Canada and the United States is scheduled for Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET.