Finnished Off: Americans Eliminated by Finland

An exciting finish capped a lackluster Olympic run by the United States on Wednesday as Team USA was unable to complete a third-period comeback and fell to Finland, 4-3.

The American squad earned only one win in the preliminary round, earning a berth in the quarterfinals seemingly by default and finding their offense just in time for their defense to let them down.

The United States came back from two goals down once but couldn’t do it a second time.

Finland took an early lead when Ville Peltonen put the puck between the pads of American goalie Rick DiPietro (New York Islanders) 9:33.

The Finns extended their lead with 7:59 remaining in the period when Sami Salo (Vancouver Canucks) added a shorthanded goal.

Team USA began its first comeback just 1:13 later, getting on the board with a goal by Mike Knuble (Philadelphia Flyers).

The Americans tied it in the second when Mathieu Schneider (Detroit Red Wings) scored a power play goal just 1:29 into the second as a barrage of penalties took over the flow of the game.

Olli Jokinen (Florida Panthers) scored his first of the game on a Finland power play at 5:06 to put his team back in the lead and added a second goal on a five-on-three with 2:50 remaining in the period.

The United States got a goal by Brian Gionta (New Jersey Devils) with 4:27 remaining in the third period to pull back within one but they couldn’t get the tying goal.