In the 4 Nations Face-Off, the first best-on-best tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto — New York Rangers' Mika Zibanejad and Urho Vaakanainen did not qualify for the final and are ready to return to their regular Rangers action.
And there you have it, the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off is down to two. The United States already had punched its ticket to the championship game with an emotional, physical 3-1 win against Canada in Montreal on Saturday. On the other side of the coin — with a 5-3 win against Finland at TD Garden on Monday afternoon, Canada clinched the remaining spot.
Zibanejad represented his home nation of Sweden, with Vaakanainen being a part of Team Finland.
Proud of our guy. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Y8KEYbiSAZ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 17, 2025
Vaakanainen was traded to NY Rangers by Anaheim with a 4th-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for Jacob Trouba, December 6, 2024. While on the roster for Team Finland he saw and helped his nation earn a 4-3 OT win against Sweden on Saturday, Feb. 15th.
Aside from this win, Finland lost the other two games the Finnish played including a 6-1 loss against Team USA and a 5-2 loss against Canada.
A great tournament for No. 93. 👏 pic.twitter.com/YnVZxLwYVK
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 18, 2025
Sweden only saw one win in 4 Nations' play, which was a one goal win over the USA on Monday evening. However the win was meaningless — Team USA had already qualified for the championship and the Swedish would be going home no matter the result.
Unfortunately, Zibanejad was not able to participate in Team Sweden's final game on Monday against Team USA due to the flu. Although him being a scratch still resulted in a 2-1 win for Sweden. Though, this could be a good thing for the Rangers with their first game following the 4 Nations break currently set for Saturday at Buffalo against the Sabres.
Prior to getting sick Zibanejad scored the first goal of the game against Finland on Feb. 15th in a showing of Mika magic.
Up Next
In most recent international history, the United States failed to defeat Canada in the gold-medal game of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. But hockey has been growing in the United States and the Americans have the talent and depth to compete with the Canadians, especially in 2025.
The championship game will take place on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. EST. The game takes place at TD Garden in Boston and will also be available for livestreaming via ESPN+, SN, TVAS. As an added bonus, the matchup will also be broadcast on ESPN.