Anttila leads Finland to world title over Canada


Marko Anttila scored two goals on Sunday to help Finland beat Canada 3-1 to win the gold medal at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Anttila, the captain, scored the tying and go-ahead goals as Finland won its third world title.

Kevin Lankinen made 43 saves for Finland.

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Harri Pesonen also scored for the Finns, who notched their first world crown since 2011.

"It's an amazing feeling," Finland's Jere Sallinen said afterward. "I don't even know how we won; it's unbelievable. We're a pretty good hockey country. Maybe it's a miracle on ice, something like that. Going back to Helsinki is going to be amazing. I think there's a lot of people waiting there for us. Anttila -- he's a beauty."

Shea Theodore scored for the Canadians, who were stymied while looking for their 27th title and first since 2016. Matt Murray made 19 saves.

Theodore's goal with 10:02 gone in the first period gave Canada a 1-0 lead before Anttila tied it with a low shot past Murray at 2:35 into the second.

Exactly 20 minutes later, Anttila scored the tiebreaking goal to make it 2-1. Pesonen added an insurance goal with 4:06 remaining.

In the third-place game, Russia beat Czech Republic 3-2 in a shootout to claim the bronze medal.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Nikita Gusev scored the shootouts goals, and Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy didn't allow the Czechs to score in four opportunities.

Vasilevskiy made 48 saves in 70 minutes -- three regulation periods and a 10-minute 3-on-3 overtime session -- before stopping the four shootout attempts.

Mikhail Grigorenko and Artem Anisimov scored goals for Russia. The Czech goals were from Michal Repik and Dominik Kubalick.

--Field Level Media

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