Favored Russians back in men’s final at Olympics, now face Finland

BEIJING (AP) — The Russians are back in the gold medal game at the Olympics, just like they were expected to be.

This run hasn’t been as dominant compared to four years ago, but they are still one victory away from winning back-to-back men’s hockey tournaments at Winter Games without NHL players. It would be gold just the same, and the Russians are looking to finish things off against Finland on Sunday in Beijing.

“We were building up through the tournament,” Russian forward Damir Sharipzyanov said. “Slow start, not a lot of goals, but we are building, and I like where we’re going and we got to the finals and now it’s the game of our lives for everyone.”

The team representing the Russian Olympic Committee only scored eight goals in its four victories this Olympics and has relied heavily on 25-year-old goaltender Ivan Fedotov, who got them into the final by making six saves in the semifinal shootout against Sweden. Fedotov has a 1.53 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in the tournament, looking a lot like veteran Vasily Koshechkin, who was the starter in 2018.

This is not that team, which loaded up with now-Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov and longtime NHL stars Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk. Only seven players are back from Pyeongchang, including six who played in the final against Germany.

“It’s a different team,” defenseman Nikita Nesterov said: “A lot of younger guys, and (now) we got an opportunity.”

That opportunity comes against a stout opponent in Finland, which has not lost a game. The Finns erased a three-goal deficit to beat Sweden in the preliminary round and coasted to the final with their trademarks of good structure and goaltending.

“Every tournament, teams could look good on the paper,