Finland dominated early on, but ran out of gas in the middle of the second period as Slovakia poured in three goals.
It seemed like a tall order for Finland to rally back as the third period started, but a determined Finnish team turned the speed back on and kept it going. Slovakia just couldn't match up and couldn't establish a physical edge. Actually, Finland probably had more success physically as they played very chippy while Slovakia went for the more roughshod hits — but pulling back at the last minute for soft impact.
Four goals later, and the bronze medal winner is Finland.
Check back tomorrow at 3:15 p.m. as a live blog of U.S.A. and Canada will be right here at NESN as the world watches to see who claims Olympic hockey superiority.
Third period, 0:10.6, 5-3 Finland: Slovakia is playing gamely and there are a few more pile-ups in front of the Finland goal.
Gaborik got off a shot that looked like it would flash right by Kiprusof, but it goes wide.
Finland clears the puck, banking it off the boards and right into the waiting hands of Valterri Filppula, who skates it into the empty net to clinch the game.
Third period, 1:25, 4-3: Slovakia is trying to do everything to get a goal, pulling their goalie for an empty net situation on this power play.
There's a bit of a scrum in front of the Finnish goal as Demetria makes a play for a goal. Ville Peltonen clears the puck, however.
Demetria ends up with the puck and flicks a shot that is rebounded to Zednik who tries to bang the puck in. It's deflected again and everyone falls to the ice trying to contain the puck.
Third period, 3:18, 4-3: A power play for Slovakia as Joni Pitkanen is called for tripping.
Third period, 3:46, 4-3: Slovakia ices the puck to stop time. The team is starting to push their speedometers as they sense time ticking away.
Finland is keeping the pressure on, trying to stay on the offensive as their defense is widely considered the weak link.
Third period, 7:25, 4-3: Holding by Salo gives Slovakia a prime opportunity to tie the game up.
Slovakia is passing the puck around the ice, trying to inch closer, but Tony Lydman clears it.
A Slovak is coming in hard with the puck and tries to pass it to Palffy, but the pass is broken up. That was Slovakia's chance, as Palffy was set up to light the lamp. Lydman clears the puck again, then Slovakia is called for offsides with 26 seconds left on the power-play.
There's a stoppage of play due to the puck being deflected off the ice, leaving a crucial face-off with eight seconds remaining. Slovakia wins the face-off and dishes the puck to Hoffa who approaches the ice and somehow doesn't get a shot off, sliding from the left side of the goal to the right. Even if he didn't see an opening, it's surprising he didn't try to flick a shot in.
Third period, 9:35, 4-3: Slovakia is playing with an edge of desperation, which is understandable.
It's playing to their advantage as they've brought the pressure now. Handzus brings the puck around the post and tries to slip it in, but Finland gangs up on him and slaps the puck away.
A slap-shot ricochet later and Andrej Sekera grabs the rebound and sends another puck spinning to Kiprusof, who quickly covers it up.
Third period, 11:19, 4-3 Finland: Jokinen scores again! He was fed a pass and threaded through two Slovak defenders to go one-on-one with Halak.
He deked, he feinted, he slid a shot through the split legs of Halak and Finland is on top again after starting the third period down 3-1.
Third period, 13:19, 3-3: Jokinen grabs the puck at center ice, moves to a shooting lane and slaps the puck past Halak, who was out of position.
Halak was trending to the left side of the net as Finland was making their push there. Alas, the puck got away from Finland and went over to the right.
A pass to Jokinen later and Finland ties the game 3-3. Halak was simply slow on the draw.
Third period, 14:54, 3-2 Slovakia: With 30 seconds remaining on the power play, Finland is bringing the pressure.
A shot just resulted on goal, coming from near the blue line right in Halak's sights.
There were two deflections off Kimmo Timonen and then Niklas Hagman. Halak simply didn't have a chance.
There seems to be some confusion as to who is getting credit for the goal, but the NBC announcers are saying it's Hagman.
Third period, 16:24, 3-1: Finland is in a power-play situation again as Martin Cibak goes away for holding.
34 seconds later and Meszaros high-sticks a Finnish player as Chara watches the event. Chara raises his hand, saying it wasn't him.
It gives Finland a 5-on-3 advantage for about a minute-and-a-half.
Third period, 18:00, 3-1: Jokinen takes a big shot on the goal that is turned away.
Andreij Meszaros is able to clear the puck as the power play is winding down.
As Finland brings the puck back up the ice and the power-play opportunity is over, Janne Niskala tries to hammer home a slap-shot but gets tangled up and the puck goes awry.
Finland is flashing renewed speed, and Slovakia is doing all it can to keep pace.
Beginning of third period, 3-1 Slovakia: Finland needs to get back to the clear shot advantage as they tied with Slovakia in the second period for shots on goal with nine apiece.
If Finland can exercise more discipline, they can get back in the game. Slovakia has scored two goals on power-play opportunities.
Finland will have a power-play chance when both teams return as there is just over one minute left on the Radivojevic high-sticking.
End of second period, 3-1 Slovakia: Finland puts on desperate pressure as the period comes to a close, but they can't make anything work.
Finland was outpacing Slovakia easily halfway through the second period but the tide began to shift as Finland players started to wear down and lose just enough speed for the playing field to be leveled.
Slovakia jumped on the chance and poured in three goals over the final 12 minutes.
Second period, 1:15, 3-1: Pavol Demetria just slapped a shot in the goal to send Slovakia up 3-1.
It seems as if the team was intimidated by Finland's speed early on, but they're certainly gaining confidence.
Second period, 2:06, 2-1: Slovakia is playing with a lot more confidence and seems to have developed a burst of speed is throwing weight around now.
Branko Radivojevic just stumbled behind the Finnish goal and whipped his stick around, clocking Olli Jokinen who goes down in a heap. The referees doin't call it, and Hoffa gets off a shot on goal that is gobbled up.
Finland isn't happy about the non-call on the high stick, but the referees confer and call a four-minute penalty on Radivojevic.
Second period, 4:22, 2-1 Slovakia: Slovakia wastes no time banging home a goal and taking the lead. Niklas Hagman takes a big shot on goal that's rebounded to Marian Hossa who was standing right by the goal and chips it in.
Second period, 4:44, 1-1: With a man in the box for Finland, Slovakia is pressing the puck up again. A few chances go by the wayside, until Kukkonen goes down for cross-checking.
Slovakia finds itself with a two-man advantage for 26 seconds.
Second period, 6:56, 1-1: Finland has its own power play opportunity thanks to Milan Jurcina getting whistled for cross-checking.
Slovakia is picking up play, however, and is doing a fine job of clogging up the space down by their goal, and Finland is finding it tough to get through to the goal.
They won't succeed on the power-play opportunity. It looks like Finland's starting to tire as their speed — while still an advantage — has noticeably slipped. It's good news for Slovakia as they're able to keep pace better.
Second period, 10:07, 1-1: With the Finnish having to play conservatively without a fifth man on the ice, Slovakia's in control. Pavol Demetria has the puck for quite a while, trying to find the right lane to pass to someone or take a shot.
Handzus is set up by Kiprusoff, but can't get a clear look for a pass as Lasse Kukkonen disrupts the opportunities.
Finally, Handzus passes off to Marian Gaborik who changes lanes slightly and sends a wrist-shot past the goalie to get on the board.
Second period, 11:22, 1-0: Slovakia is finally starting to get some cohesiveness on offense.
Unfortunately, they keep muffing it up on errant passes, although the Finnish are playing extremely chippy and disrupting the passing lanes.
And speaking of chippy, Mikko Koivu just got called for hooking Richard Zednik.
It's a power-play chance coming up for Slovakia.
Second period, 13:24, 1-0: Some nice playing going on in that power-play opportunity.
Salo runs down the ice at a breakneck pace, and dishes it to Lehtinen, but Lehtinin muffs the pass, leaving the puck at center ice all by its lonesome.
That was all the opportunity Slovakia needed to whittle down the last moments of the power play, getting to the puck first and clearing it down the ice.
The Finnish try to push up the ice, but Slovakia is having none of it and is playing a nice game of keep-away as the seconds expire.
Second period, 15:24, 1-0: Marian Gaborik just went down for delay of game. It'll be a tough battle for Slovakia to withstand the Fins with just four men on the ice.
Second period, 15:51, 1-0: Still all Finland. Selanne grabbed a pass and tried to flip it past Halak, but Halak rejected it.
On the rebound, Jere Lehtinen attempted to capitalize on the quick opening, but Halak gloved the puck to stop play.
Second period, 18:10, 1-0: Slovakia got the edge early on in the second period and pressured the Finnish goal, getting off two shots.
Once Finland corralled the puck, however, they dashed down the ice and tried to put one in the net. Halak is looking a bit slow in reaction time, but he was able to turn away the latest onslaught.
Slovakia's bein a bit more physical so far, but Finland is still runing with abandon.
Beginning of second period, 1-0 Finland: How can Slovakia withstand the Finnish onslaught? They simply need to exercise their size advantage which they got away from.
Slovakia has the towering Zdeno Chara as well as several other hulks that aren't throwing their size around. If the Slovaks can get in a few key hits, Finland will stop taking the chances that's enabled them to keep the puck in Slovakian territory.
I'm reminded of the U.S. and Canada preliminary game that America won 5-2. Canada had the clear size advantage, which they didn't use to their benefit and let the U.S. run roughshod over them. While the Canadians boast speed Slovak doesn't have, they also didn't take advantage of playing physically, instead electing to try to outrun America.
End of first period, 1-0 Finland: Finland will go to the locker room with the lead while Slovakia will try to re-evaluate its game.
Based on quickness and the ability to execute sharp turns around the Slovaks, Finland is up 1-0 and has 12 shots on goal.
Slovakia pressured the puck early on before Finland clicked. As a result, they only had five shots on goal.
First period, 1:10, 1-0 Finland: The Finnish drew first blood. Both teams were increasing their play in the waning minutes of the first period as both teams got their skates underneath them.
There were a few dust-ups around the Slovak goal before Michal Handzus tried to clear the puck and failed, feeding it right to Sami Salo accidentally.
Salo then shoots at Halak's glove, the puck whisking right by him.
It was a power play goal, as Sigmund Paffy was called for hooking a minute previous.
First period, 2:55, 0-0: It's rather striking the size advantage the Slovakians have and the quickness advantage the Finnish have.
Finland continues to keep the pressure on, mostly on their ability to outmaneuver Slovakia. They're prone to sloppy miscues, however, which is allowing Slovakia to reset its defenses to withstand the assault.
First period, 5:35, 0-0: Now its Finland's turn to spend some time in Slovakian territory.
Teemu Selanne got off a slap shot that parked a string of deft passing and quick speed to chip away at the Slovaks and keep the puck down by goalie Halak despite Slovakia's attempt to clear the puck.
First period, 7:35, 0-0: Slovakia was asserting its dominance, spending time in in the Finnish side of the ice and exercising their physicality.
They could have kept the pressure on, but an errant pass led the puck to go across the blue line, and yet another errant pass caused the Slovaks to double back into their territory once the final Slovakian had gotten over the blue line.
Since then, it's been end-to-end play. Finland is playing with speed, while Slovakia is going more for brute power and physicality.
First period, 10:10, 0-0: It's a pretty even match-up so far, although Finland seems to have been pressured the most in goal. Not all that surprising given the Slovakian firepower.
First period, 15:46, 0-0: Finland got things started with a near-immediate penalty for holding.
Slovakia couldn't convert their opportunity and it looks like both teams are playing a bit slow and feeling each other out.
Beginning of first period: Slovakia and Finland are ready to do battle.
Some names to keep an eye on:
Niklas Hagman leads the Finnish with five points — three goals and two assists. Mikko Koivu has four points, all from assists.
On the Slovakian side, Pavol Demetria and Marian Hossa both have seven points — and both got those points with two goals and five assists.
Four other Slovaks have at least four points, so the team's offense is clearly more high-powered than Finland's.
Jaroslav Halak is in net for Slovakia and has played every minute of the Olympics so far, boasting a save percentage of .912 and a goals against average of 2.14. Niklas Backstrom and Mikka Kiprusoff have both essentially split time in the net, with Backstrom the better of the two at a .952 save percentage and 1.09 GAA. Kiprusoff is the starter as that is the only way he would have joined the team.
8:00 p.m.: Yes, all eyes will be on USA-Canada tomorrow night in the gold-medal game, but there's three medals to go around.
Slovakia and Finland will do battle for the rights to the bronze medal Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. on MSNBC. Finland is coming off a 6-1 loss to the U.S., something that Finnish players had a hard time accepting. "I really have no words. It's just unbelievable," said Teemu Selanne according to ESPN.
Finland will attempt to nab its fifth medal in the last seven Olympic games. In 2006, they won the silver.
Meanwhile, Slovakia dropped a 3-2 loss to the Canadians despite rallying in the third period. The Slovaks have yet to medal in their short history, but with at least a fourth-place finish assured, the Slovaks will have improved their finish three Olympics in a row (13th in 2002, fifth in 2006).
Two Bruins players will represent Slovakia in Zdeno Chara and Miroslav Satan.
