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Jordan Binnington falls apart late in 5-3 win over Finland; is Jon Cooper to blame?
Photo credit: NHL
Team Canada is going on to face Team USA on Thursday at the TD Garden in Boston for the first ever Four Nations Championship Game after beating Team Finland 5-3.
However, that isn't coming without a near collapse towards the end of the game.
The Canadians had a 4-0 lead against the Finnish with seven minutes remaining in the third period.
Esa Lindell scored to make it 1-0 on a nice shot off the post. Then, Mikael Granlund, who was the overtime hero for Finland in the game against Sweden on Saturday, scored with 1:40 left to make it 4-2.
Granlund then scored again to make it 4-3 with 1:17 left to go in the game to make it 4-3 and cut the lead down to one, making it three big-time goals for Granlund this tournament.
Crosby then netted an empty net goal not too long after.
Canada just took their foot off the gas towards the end of that game and Jordan Binnington fell apart.
Binnington has been heavily criticized this entire tournament and even was the moment he was selected for the team.
Binnington had an okay showing against Sweden last Wednesday in a 4-3 overtime victory against Sweden. However, fans still called for him to be out of the net, because he could've done a lot better.
Jon Cooper, Team Canada's coach, kept him in for the game against the United States, and let in a bad goal to Jake Guentzel that made it 1-1.
Guentzel was coming up the side off the rush and just threw one at Binnington that happened to slip in five-hole.
Canada lost that game to Team USA 3-1, and now Binnington fell apart at the end of this game against Finland and nearly lost them the game.
Cooper refuses to take out Binnington and they chose Binnington over the likes of Logan Thompson because of personal issues.
Jon Cooper's name has been thrown around for the next head coaching job of the Blackhawks because of his recent Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but you have to start questioning his decision making with starting Binnington.
It seems awfully familiar with how Luke Richardson and now Anders Sorensen are with starting the veterans; they're all stubborn.
Either way, we'll see if Cooper goes with Binnington or Adin Hill for Thursday night's game against the Americans.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 17 | 81 ANSWERS Jordan Binnington falls apart late in 5-3 win over Finland; is Jon Cooper to blame? Who should team Canada start for their gold medal game? | ||
| Jordan Binnington | 44 | 54.3 % |
| Adin Hill | 37 | 45.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
