With a solid, committed effort, Finland pulled away in the third period to beat Slovakia 6-1 in Saturday's bronze medal game at the 2026 Olympic men’s hockey tournament.

Erik Haula scored twice, and Joel Armia had a goal and two assists. Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz, and Kaapo Kakko added singles for Finland. Miro Heiskanen and Eeli Tolvanen chipped in two assists apiece.

"It feels great," said Hintz. "Yesterday, we were close to getting to the gold medal game, but we can’t change yesterday and I think it was great that we got the job done and won the bronze. It’s a big deal."

Captain Tomas Tatar replied for Slovakia, which was unable to repeat its historic 2022 Olympic bronze medal success.

"Of course, there is a pride in it," said Slovakia's Dalibor Dvorsky, who impressed with six points in his Olympic debut at age 20. "I think we had a good tournament overall, but it did not go the way we wanted. So close, but still so far away."

Finland has now medaled in five “NHL Olympics” – more than any other nation. It took the silver medal with a 3-2 loss to Sweden in Turin (2006). The Finns also own three previous bronze medals in this era. They shocked Canada 3-2 in Nagano (1998), rallied to beat Slovakia 5-3 in Vancouver (2010), and blanked the U.S. 5-0 in Sochi (2014).

Finland’s Juuse Saros, the only goalie to play every game for his team at these Games, didn't hurt his all-star team case with a 30-save performance. Slovakia’s Samuel Hlavaj had 29 stops in a losing cause at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Known for their disciplined, defence-first approach, coach Antti Pennanen’s troops never trailed favoured Canada in the semi-finals until Nathan MacKinnon scored the 3-2 power play winner with 36 seconds remaining. This was a fitting bounceback for Finland. They wouldn't let this bronze medal get away.

"It's pretty easy to bounce back," said Henri Jokiharju. "This is a game we want to win. It's the Olympics. It's the most important bronze game in the world. It's really nice to win it."

The Finns competed without superstar Mikko Rantanen, who sustained a lower-body injury versus Canada. Rantanen, who owns a World Junior gold medal and IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship silver medal from 2016, ranks eighth in NHL scoring this year with 69 points for the Dallas Stars, A 2022 Stanley Cup champion with the Colorado Avalanche, Rantanen was replaced on the top line by Oliver Kapanen (Montreal Canadiens), who dressed but did not play versus Sweden and Canada.

Fourth place is a hard fate to accept for the Slovaks, who started this tournament off with a bang against the very same opponent. Juraj Slafkovsky of the Montreal Canadiens, the 2022 Olympic MVP, starred with two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win over Finland. But this rematch was a different story.

At 7:27 Suomi drew first blood. Heiskanen, who entered this game leading the tournament in average ice time (26:35), fired a slap shot from the left point. Artturi Lehkonen shoved the rebound through Hlavaj’s pads and Aho banged it in for his team-leading fourth goal.

The Slovaks pressed early in the second period. They caught a break when Haula, who scored shorthanded against Canada, was penalized for flipping the puck over the glass in his own end. But they didn't cash in, and Haula redeemed hiimself shortly afterwards, surprising Hlavaj with a high shot from the right side to make it 2-0 at 8:05.

Hlavaj made a nice blocker save on Eetu Luostarinen on a mid-game Finnish 2-on-1 to keep Slovakia's hopes alive. Saros stoned Martin Gernat on a power-play blast from the right faceoff circle and the veteran blueliner gazed skyward in disbelief. Gernat subsequently took out his frustrations on Hintz with a tough hit in the corner.

Tatar made it 2-1 with pure opportunism with just 0:30 left in the middle frame. A Martin Fehervary shoot-in took a weird bounce off the end boards, surprising Saros, who had gone behind the net to play the puck. The Finnish goalie scrambled to get back in his crease, but Tatar pounced on the loose biscuit and cut to the backhand for a sweet finish. 

In the third period, Hintz deflected Heiskanen's point shot in to restore Finland's two-goal lead at 8:27.

Just 42 seconds later, Kakko put the game out of reach, grabbing a loose puck after Gernat blew a tire and breaking into the right faceoff circle to zing the puck inside the far post.

"At the end of the second period and the start of the third, we were pushing them in the D-zone, but their goalie had a couple of big saves," said Slovakia's Milos Kelemen. "After they made it 3-1, that was tough, and then they got another a minute later. We battled, but they scored the big goals."

"We didn’t need any special motivation or look for energy, they came naturally," said Finland's Olli Maatta, one of two returnees from the 2014 Olympic bronze medal team, along with Mikael Granlund . "I think we showed our character and played with heart, and we wanted to make sure the culture that older Team Finland players have created stays on."

Armia and Haula put the icing on the cake with empty-netters in the last five minutes.

Slovakia won its first Olympic bronze medal in 2022 with a 4-0 victory over Sweden, sparking wild celebrations in Bratislava. Slafkovsky, who dazzled with seven goals in Beijing, was again Slovakia’s kingpin in Milan with four goals and eight points. But the Slovaks, who topped Group C in the preliminary round, couldn’t sustain their momentum after thrashing Germany 6-2 in the quarter-finals.