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Doughty the hero as Canada beats Finland in OT

DrewDoughty2

Drew Doughty’s time is now.

The L.A. defenseman, who’s easily been Canada’s best player in Sochi, turned in another stellar performance on Sunday, scoring both goals in Canada’s 2-1 overtime win over Finland in the final game of the group stage.

Doughty’s winner came at the midway point of the extra session after he collected a Jeff Carter pass and snapped the puck home past Tuukka Rask. It was Doughty’s fourth goal of the tournament -- he now sits tied with Phil Kessel for second-most -- and it came after Doughty opened the Canadian scoring at the 13:44 mark of the first period. Sidney Crosby and Shea Weber added assists on the first goal; the helper was the fourth point of the tournament for Weber, another Canadian defenseman producing well in Sochi.

Tuomo Ruutu replied for Finland -- his first goal and fourth point of the Games -- with Jussi Jokinen and Ossi Vaananen notching assists.

VIDEO: Canada needs OT to beat Finns

Rask was by far the busier and better of the two goalies on the day, as he registered 25 saves to Carey Price’s 14. That said, Price had to be sharp on occasion, especially with a huge blocker on Finnish defenseman Sami Salo late in the contest.

Overall, the game was a tight, close-checking affair with few mistakes made by either team. Some compact Finnish defending in the middle of the ice kept Canada to the perimeter, but it came at a cost as the Finns didn’t take many risks offensively. That, combined with Canada’s responsible defending, saw Finland put just 15 shots on goal -- a far cry from the 52 they fired at Austria and 39 recorded against Norway.

With the win, Canada clinched top spot in Group B and third spot overall, meaning it gets an automatic bye into the quarterfinals -- where it will take on the winner of No. 6 Switzerland vs. No. 11 Latvia.

Finland finished fourth overall, also gets a quarterfinal bye and will take on the winner of No. 5 Russia vs. No. 12 Norway.