The Russians will face Finland in the men’s hockey gold-medal game at the Beijing Winter Games after the reigning Olympic champs beat Sweden in a lengthy shootout on Friday.
Tied at 1-1 after regulation and a 10-minute overtime, the Russians and Sweden each scored twice in the first five shootout attempts. In the eighth round of the shootout, Arseni Gritsyuk beat Swedish goaltender Lars Johansson to win it.
Anton Slepyshev scored for the Russians in regulation, then Sweden’s Anton Lander tied it in the third.
The final is Saturday at 11:10 p.m. ET.
Earlier, Finland beat Slovakia 2-0 to advance to the gold-medal final.
Sakari Manninen and Harri Pesonen, with an empty-netter, scored for Finland.
The Russians (under various names) have won nine Olympic gold medals in men’s hockey, tied with Canada for the most.
Finland’s best result in the Olympics is a silver medal, which it has earned twice. The first time came in 1998 in a losing effort to a Soviet Union team featuring Vyacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov. The next time was in 2006, when Mats Sundin, Nicklas Lidstrom, Daniel Alfredsson and the Swedes defeated Teemu Selanne and the Finns in Turin.
Finland is undefeated so far in the tournament, boasting a team with former NHLers Sami Vatanen, Valtteri Filppula and Leo Komarov, among others. In 2018, the country fell to Canada in the quarterfinals.
Sweden faces Slovakia for bronze on Friday at 11:10 p.m. ET.
