Canada handles Finland, 5-3, setting up a rematch with the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off title game

BOSTON ― If you thought Saturday night was fun, get your popcorn ready for Thursday.

Less than 48 hours after the United States beat — and beat up — Canada in one of the most captivating and talked-about hockey games of the past decade, Canada ensured a rematch in the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off title game on Thursday night at TD Garden.

Needing a regulation win against Finland to secure a spot in the final against the U.S., Canada wasn’t in the mood for any drama, comfortably — until a frantic late flurry — dispatching Finland, 5-3, in the matinee of Monday’s 4 Nations doubleheader.

“There’s no bigger rivalry in hockey than Canada-U.S. and I think it’s the matchup that everybody wanted,” said Canada forward Brad Marchand, who was playing in his home building on Monday. “So it’s going to be an extremely intense game, one we’re all going to be looking forward to.”

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After being largely kept under wraps by the Americans, the star-studded Canadians exploded for three first-period goals against the Finns, with their biggest stars Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon leading the way from almost the opening whistle.

McDavid opened the scoring for the Canadians for the second straight game, scoring just 4 minutes and 13 seconds into the game after picking off a weak clearing attempt from Finland’s Roope Hintz, circling for an opening, and then firing a low, hard wrist shot by Finnish goalie Kevin Lankinen just inside the right post. Forty-six seconds later it was 2-0 Canada, as MacKinnon raced over the blue line to collect a deflected pass attempt from Sam Reinhart and beat Lankinen from close range.

Finland was completely shell-shocked and coach Antti Pennanen called timeout. It didn’t work.

Brayden Point gave Canada a three-goal advantage that already seemed insurmountable at 13:02 of the first, sliding home a rebound from Travis Sanheim’s initial shot. McDavid picked up the secondary assist on Point’s marker, while Sanheim, playing in his second consecutive game for the injured Shea Theodore, looked much more comfortable on Monday. Sanheim played 18:23 and tallied an assist, one shot on goal, and three blocked shots. He was on the ice for two Canada goals but finished the game even after Finland scored twice late with him out there.

“That’s huge. They set the tone right away,” Sidney Crosby said of McDavid and MacKinnon. “That’s what you need, big plays from big-time players. They stepped up to get us the lead, get a start like that, get our feet under us.”

The onslaught continued in the second period as a motivated Canada continued to take out its frustration on the helpless Finns. MacKinnon picked up his second goal of the day after a tic-tac-toe passing play with linemates Reinhart and Crosby. The play finished with Crosby finding his close friend and fellow Nova Scotian MacKinnon for a point-blank one-timer. Pennanen, showing some empathy for his netminder who was largely hung out to dry, subsequently pulled Lankinen for Juuse Saros. Saros stopped all 14 shots he faced in relief after Lankinen surrendered four goals on 13 shots.

It seemed like Canada would cruise from there, even after Dallas Stars blueliner Esa Lindell finally got Finland on the board with 6:41 remaining. But the Finns, as is their reputation in international hockey, would not go quietly. In fact, things would get really interesting … for a few seconds at least.

With under two minutes to play and the goalie pulled, Finland’s Mikael Granlund scored twice in 23 seconds to make it 4-3 and strike more than a few nerves into the Canadian faithful at a jam-packed TD Garden. With 1:17 left on the clock, there was still time to complete an all-time comeback. But it wasn’t to be as Captain Canada himself, Crosby, was there to put out the fire with an empty-netter with 56 seconds left. Goalie Jordan Binnington, maybe the biggest question mark for Canada, stopped 23 of 26 shots in the win.

Despite things getting close late, Canada coach Jon Cooper was happy with his team’s effort.

“I thought we played extremely well tonight,” said Cooper. “The way we managed the puck, we’ve got the best players in the world doing things they’re probably not accustomed to for the benefit of our team winning hockey games. It was a 200-foot game. You’ve got McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, and all these guys dumping pucks and going and getting them. It was the way we had to play to win this game and we did it.

“Whatever you want to dissect the game. Does it matter by how much you won? Bottom line, the goal was to play Thursday night.”

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Travis Konecny drew back into the lineup for Canada in place of Seth Jarvis, playing on a line with Marchand and Sam Bennett, two others with master’s degrees in chaos and agitation. Bringing in Konecny for Jarvis on the surface seemed to be a response to the U.S. defeat, with Cooper opting for a little bit more experience and sandpaper in Konecny. The Flyers winger played a team-low 12:11, managing two shots, one hit, and finishing with a minus-1 rating.

Canada’s victory sets up a game of games on Thursday night, as the U.S. will look to beat Canada twice in a week to claim the maiden 4 Nations Face-Off crown. That will be no easy task as Monday showed, with Canada’s top guys led by McDavid and MacKinnon firing and having revenge on their minds. The U.S. will have one final tuneup on Monday night against Sweden, although there isn’t anything at stake for either team. Flyers netminder Sam Ersson is expected to start for the Swedes.

Asked whether there will be more extracurriculars between the U.S. and Canada after Saturday night’s fight night at the Bell Centre, Marchand replied: “To be determined.”

We can only hope.