Canada came into the third with the lead and the momentum, on the heels of a strong second period where the Canadians scored three unanswered goals. Canadian goaltender Evan Cormier made a strong case for himself to start for his team in the playoffs, making some big saves in the second and third period to keep his net clean for the final 40 minutes of the game.

At the other end Veini Vehvilainen also played great in net, making two huge saves with four minutes to go to keep his team alive. But despite their goalie’s efforts the Finns couldn’t produce the tying goal and the game ended with a 3-2 win for the Canadians. 

"My favourite term is `When you're thinking the game you're not moving your feet, if you move your feet your mind will follow`," said Team Canada head coach Tim Hunter. "And once we started moving our feet, making plays, driving to the net, putting pucks to the net, playing the Canadian way, it was a big difference for us."

Team Finland took the physical game to the Canadians early on, getting the lion’s share of scoring chances. The Finns got on the board first as Canadian goalie Evan Cormier gave up a rebound that caused a scramble in front, allowing Aleksi Saarela to jam the puck in from the side of the net.

Then the Finns caught Canada on a two-on-one when Saarela intercepted the puck in his own zone and made a quick breakout pass to Jesse Puljujarvi. Puljujarvi made no mistake on the assist to linemate Patrik Laine, giving Finland the 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.