Canada's offense too much for Matinpalo & Finland to handle

Monday afternoon saw a change of scenery for the 4 Nations Face-Off. The scene shifted from Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, to TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

The first game played on Monday in Boston was an important one between Canada and Finland. If either team won in regulation, they would advance to the championship game on Thursday night to face the United States. For Ottawa Senators defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo and Finland, the game would be a one-sided affair for a majority of the game.

Canada advances to championship game

Canada defeated Matinpalo and Finland 5-3 to advance to the championship game. Finland finished winning one of three games played in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Matinpalo entered the tournament with little NHL experience with playing just 22 NHL games, but was going to get good experience playing against the NHL's best as a late addition to Finland's roster. Matinpalo recorded a -2 rating in Finland's first game of the tournament in a 6-1 loss against the United States, then played a steady game this past Saturday in Finland's 4-3 overtime win against Sweden. But, Canada was too much for Matinpalo to handle.

Canada jumped out to an early 3-0 lead just 13:02 into the game with goals from Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point. In the second period, MacKinnon scored a second goal. Finland scored three goals in a span of 5:24 to make it a one goal game late in the third period, but it was too little too late as Sidney Crosby scored to put the game away with an empty-net goal.

Matinpalo finished the game with a -3 rating along with defenseman Urho Vaakanainen. Canada's offense was heavily stacked coming into the tournament. Canada was able to take advantage of Matinpalo's inexperience and attack Finland with him on the ice. On MacKinnon's second goal, Matinpalo didn't get into a good position in time with MacKinnon having enough room to shoot the puck passed Kevin Lankinen.

Despite Matinpalo not recording one point and finishing with a combined -5 rating in the tournament, getting experience in this heavily talented tournament was important for the 26-year-old defenseman. The Senators now hope that Matinpalo takes the experience he learned with playing with top players from Finland and playing against top players from other countries, and bring it back with him to the NHL. Matinpalo is still in search of his first NHL point.