Jokinen scores twice as Finland beats Slovakia, 5-3, for bronze

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Finland won the bronze medal in men's hockey Saturday night, rallying from a two-goal deficit for a 5-3 victory over Slovakia.

The Rangers' Olli Jokinen scored the tying and go-ahead goals during a four-goal third period by Finland, the only team to win four medals in the past five Olympic tournaments.

Finland's Jere Lehtinen, Ville Peltonen and captain Saku Koivu each won his fourth medal, equaling an Olympic record shared with three players.

Teemu Selanne didn't score in what likely was the final game for the Olympics' career scoring leader, but he was a happy hockey player afterward.

"We believed that we could come back, and it was a huge comeback," Selanne said. "After 23 years playing for the national team, after five Olympics, this is a dream come true.

"If somebody were to tell us before the tournament we would win the bronze medal, we would have taken that."

Slovakia, which still led 3-1 five minutes into the third period, blew a shot to win its first medal since forming its federation in 1993 after the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

Pavol Demitra had a goal and two assists for the Slovaks, who couldn't win their nation's first medal in a team sport. Demitra, who hit the post on a late slap shot, said he felt like "the biggest loser" for finishing fourth and that fourth "is worse than being eighth for me."

Fourth-place Slovakia still had its best Olympic finish.

Jokinen scored at 6:41 of the third period to tie it at 3-3 and added a power-play goal at 8:41.

Slovakia's Richard Zednik had a chance to tie the game with 1:25 remaining but couldn't control a bouncing puck in what was the team's best opportunity to force overtime. Valtteri Filppula sealed the victory with 11 seconds left with an empty-net goal.

As the Finns swarmed goalie Miikka Kiprusoff to congratulate him, the Slovaks slumped to the ice in pained exhaustion. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak leaned disconsolately against the boards, Marian Gaborik slammed his helmet down soon after getting off the ice, and Andrej Sekera broke his stick over a railing.

The Finns became the first to win three medals since the NHL let its players compete at the 1998 Winter Games and the only team to be a repeat medalist, following up the silver it won four years ago.

Kiprusoff was solid in the net with 19 saves, regaining his confidence just one day after he was pulled when the U.S. scored four goals on seven shots in just 10 minutes.