It might not be the prize he wanted to fight for, but Sebastian Aho and Finland had one more job to do, battling Slovakia to earn the bronze medal. In a rematch from group play, Finland hoped to get the job done by exacting a little revenge for its tournament-opening loss. They would have to do it without leading scorer Mikko Rantanen, who was unavailable because of an injury.
With no Rantanen, it would be up to the rest of Finland's stars to set the tone. In the first period, that's exactly what they did. Artturi Lehkonen poked a puck loose from underneath Samuel Hlavaj's pads, and Aho was on the spot to put it into the vacant net. The goal was his fourth of the tournament, adding to his team lead, getting the Finns on the board first.
Finland pushed the lead to two on an Erik Haula goal in the second, but Slovakia got one back before the end of the period. In the third, Aho drew a tripping penalty, and it would be the spark Finland needed. They scored on the power play and again 42 seconds later to make it 4-1. Add two empty-net goals and it was Easy Street to the bronze medal for Aho and the Finns.
Sebastian Aho is an Olympic medalist, and he wasn't a spectator
As we've documented throughout the tournament, it was not a good start for Sebastian Aho. He had a rough third period in the opener against this same Slovakia team, and he was a non-factor against Sweden in the second game. However, since then, Aho was a man on a mission to get his team on the podium.
It started by scoring his first Olympic goal against Italy, the first of two goals and three points for him against the host nation. Then, he recorded a point in each of Finland's three playoff games. His snipe in the third period against Switzerland got their comeback going. He helped get Finland on the board on Friday by winning the draw. To close it out, Aho scored the opening goal today.
One of the greatest criticisms of Finland's performance at the 4 Nations last season was the invisibility of some of its top players, and Aho was included in that bunch. He only had two assists in three games, and he needed to do much more. Without Aleksander Barkov for this tournament, Aho needed to step up, and that he did.
Aho finished tied for second on Team Finland in points with six, trailing only Joel Armia (8). Four of those six points were goals, which led his team and is tied for second at the Winter Olympics. As for his ranks among the Hurricanes' best at the Olympics, he already secured the most goals in a tournament by a Hurricane while tying Eric Staal for the most points after he recorded six in 2010.
By winning the bronze medal, Aho ensured that a member of the Carolina Hurricanes' roster would occupy each spot on the podium, giving the team three medalists this season. They did the same back in 2010, with Staal winning the gold, Tim Gleason winning the silver, and both Joni Pitkanen and Tuomo Ruutu getting bronze. We'll see on Sunday who on the team gets the gold and the silver.