Kapanen and Finland Beat Slafkovsky and Slovakia for the Bronze Medal
The Olympic bronze medal game featured two Montreal Canadiens players facing off for a medal on Saturday. The game finished with Oliver Kapanen and Finland having a dominant 3rd period against Juraj Slafkovsky and Slovakia as they beat them 6-1 to capture the Bronze Medal. While Kapanen had previously dressed as the 13th forward for Finland in 2 games before Saturday’s Bronze game, it was the first time he actually got some ice time, as he replaced the injured Mikko Rantanen on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Artturi Lehkonen. For a player making his debut, he had a great game, showing that he deserved to be given a chance earlier in the tournament.
Congrats to Habs centre Oliver Kapanen for winning the Bronze medal with Finland! 🥉
Félicitations au centre du Canadien Oliver Kapanen pour avoir remporté la médaille de bronze avec la Finlande! 🥉#thesickpodcast pic.twitter.com/cek0HNpW03
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) February 21, 2026
Despite losing 6-1, it was clear that Slafkovsky was by far the most dangerous player for Slovakia yet again and may get named to the Olympic Tournament All-Star team for leading a surprising Slovakia team to a 4th place finish.
Juraj Slafkovsky may be even better than the Habs thought 👀@EricEngels: “The mindset that Slafkovsky has, is turning him into not only the player the Canadiens hoped he’d be … but perhaps something even better than that”#thesickpodcast @GaumondShayne pic.twitter.com/E9L61w1fUM
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) February 17, 2026
In the Bronze Medal game, Finland essentially got revenge on Slovakia after they lost the tournament’s opening game 4-1 in what was likely Slafkovsky’s greatest hockey game in his life, as mentioned by Eric Engels on the Sick Podcast earlier this week. Slafkovsky scored 2 goals and 1 assist in that game while also just leading the play every time he was on the ice. Finland seemed to make it a priority to stop Slafkovsky the 2nd time around on Saturday, as he was double-teamed every time he was in the offensive zone, and he still managed to be the best player for Slovakia in the game.
Saturday was the only game that Slafkovsky was held pointless; however, he led all players in the game with shots on goal with 5. Finland’s netminder Juuse Saros robbed him on multiple occasions, including 2 great opportunities with the net empty late in the game. Not to mention, he attempted to set up his linemates on various occasions with highly skilled passes that they could not connect on.
Juraj Slafkovsky finishes the Olympics with 4G and 4A in 6 games.
But he did so much more than put up pts. He dominated shifts vs. some of the best players in the world and led 🇸🇰 much further than even they thought they’d get.
He’s coming back to #gohabsgo a better player.— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) February 21, 2026
Slafkovsky finished the tournament with 4 goals and 8 points in 6 games. He proved to be one of the best players in the entire Olympics yet again, and the fact it came against NHLers shows just how much Slafkovsky has progressed since being a 17-year-old who broke out onto the scene. As great as his performance was, Slafkovsky couldn’t carry his country to another bronze medal.
On the other hand, Kapanen is finally getting his chance to show what he can do in the Olympics. Similarly to how he has been with the Canadiens, Kapanen got into the right areas to score goals for Finland but wasn’t able to find the twine. While he was held pointless, it could be argued that Kapanen got his stick on the puck before Aho put the puck in the net to open the score in the first period. Although since it was inconclusive, he wasn’t given an assist for poking it loose so Aho could score.
🇫🇮 Oliver Kapanen can’t bury one but he’s had an unbelievable game! It’s a crime he wasn’t in this lineup all Olympics (good for Canada yesterday). Happy for him to have had such a good game for bronze🥉
— HabsMuse (@HabsMuse) February 21, 2026
Kapanen could have also scored 2 goals, as he beat the Slovakian goaltender twice with his wicked shot but hit the crossbar. Overall, Kapanen got to show what his game is about on a world stage as an underrated shooter before the end of the Olympics, but he should have gotten a few shifts earlier in the tournament as a 13th forward to at least show what he could do. This was especially the case during Finland’s 4-1 win against Sweden, where they had control of the game early on. Nonetheless, his performance in the Bronze Medal game should be enough for him to be trusted to play in future best-on-best tournaments.
Up until the 3rd period it was a close game, as Finland was only leading 2-1, but a power play goal midway through the frame by Roope Hintz. This was followed by another goal 42 seconds later by Kaapo Kakko to put the Finns up 4-1 to seal the game. Despite this, Slovakia attempted to pull their goalie late but ended up allowing 2 empty-net goals in the process, which made the score look more like a blowout than it really was.
Habs linemates Oliver Kapanen 🇫🇮 and Juraj Slafkovsky 🇸🇰 in the handshake line pic.twitter.com/OsaU4zlDii
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) February 21, 2026
Both Kapanen and Slafkovsky should be proud of what they showed in this tournament. While there was very limited opportunity for Kapanen, he showed he can be an asset for the Finnish team, and Slafkovsky took the world by storm. Hopefully both players can take this momentum that they have from this tournament into their games with the Canadiens going forward.
What were your thoughts on both Canadiens players during the Finland vs. Slovakia bronze medal game?
