Finland won gold in the IIHF World Championship in Slovakia on Sunday, defeating Canada by a score of 3-1 in the final game.
FINLAND DOES IT!!!! @leijonat HAVE WON THE 2019 #IIHFWORLDS pic.twitter.com/sKZBqSXel6
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 26, 2019
Finland was quite the underdog story in this year's tournament. Finland's roster featured no full-time NHL players -- only two appeared in any NHL games this season. Finland eliminated Sweden (a team with 21 NHL players) in the quarterfinal round, Russia (a team with 15 NHL players and some top KHL players) in the semifinal round, and now Canada (a team made up of only NHL players) in the gold medal game.
Finland's goaltender Kevin Lankinen split the 2018-19 season between the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL and the Indy Fuel of the ECHL.
Matt Murray took the loss, with 19 saves on 22 shots. He stopped Finland's Oliwer Kaski (who plays for the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga) on a penalty shot in the first period:
.@HC_Men's Matt Murray (@Penguins) stands tall and stops Oliwer Kaski on a penalty shot to keep it a 0-0 game!#IIHFWorlds 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/kcinJgH45J
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 26, 2019
It was Murray's second start in as many days after making 40 saves on 41 shots in Saturday's semifinal win over the Czech Republic. He finished the tournament with a .926 save percentage and a 2.01 goals-against average in seven games.
Jared McCann recorded the secondary assist on Canada's lone goal in the gold medal game and recorded two shots on goal in 11:24. He finished the tournament with two goals and three assists in 10 games.
• Earlier in the day, Russia defeated the Czech Republic in a shootout, 3-2, to win the bronze medal. Evgeni Malkin was scoreless, and recorded two shots and an even plus/minus in 15:12. His bronze medal is his seventh World Championship medal, after previously winning gold twice (2012, 2014), silver twice (2010, 2015), and bronze twice (2005, 2007).
Malkin finished the tournament with one goal and five assists in 10 games.
Dominik Simon was scoreless in the loss for the Czech Republic. His six shots on goal tied for the team lead, and he registered an even plus/minus in 18:51.
Simon finished the tournament with four goals and eight assists in 10 games, the leading scorer among all Penguins in the tournament.
MORE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATES
Preliminary Play
Day 1: Hornqvist scores; Malkin and Simon record assists
Day 2: Blueger gets two points in Latvia win
Day 3: Hornqvist nets two; McCann makes magic
Day 4: Hornqvist extends goal streak, ties Kakko for tournament lead
Day 5: Blueger dominates Worlds faceoff circle
Day 6: Malkin scoreless in 10-0 Russia win
Day 7: Simon scores goal, two assists
Day 8: Simon extends goal streak
Day 9: Murray earns win over Germany
Day 10: Simon scores third goal in as many games
Day 11: Jared McCann scores his first Worlds goal
Day 12: Malkin scores first goal of World Championship
Quarterfinals
Day 13: Malkin, Murray, McCann, Simon advance to semifinals
Semifinals
Day 14: Murray, McCann to play for Worlds gold
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