Olympic Hockey Schedule 2022: TV Guide, Live Stream for Finland vs. ROC

In 2018, the Olympic Athletes from Russia beat Germany in the men's ice hockey gold-medal game at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

In 2022, the Russian Olympic Committee has reached the gold-medal game in Beijing. But if the ROC hopes to end up with the top prize, it will need to take down the team that has been the most impressive thus far at the Winter Games: Finland.

The Finns, who are the last undefeated team remaining at 5-0, will look to cap a perfect run to the gold by defeating the ROC on Saturday night (Sunday in Beijing). It'll be the first time these two teams have faced off at this year's Olympics.

Although Finland has previously won two silvers and four bronzes in Olympic competition, it has never won a gold. But that could soon change.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into the game.

     

Gold-Medal Game Info

Date: Saturday, Feb. 19

Start Time: 11:10 p.m. ET

TV: USA Network

Live Stream: Peacock, NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com

   

Preview

To get to the gold-medal game, both Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee had to play competitive matches against quality opponents. However, both the Finns and the ROC came through with big wins to ensure that they'll be leaving Beijing with either the gold or silver.

In Finland's semifinal matchup, it took on Slovakia, which had already lost to the Finns in the preliminary round. On Feb. 10, Finland cruised to a 6-2 win over the Slovaks. But the game wasn't nearly as lopsided when the two teams met again in the medal round.

Still, the matchup ended with the same result. Finland beat Slovakia 2-0, as the Finns notched their first shutout victory of the Olympics behind 28 saves from goaltender Harri Sateri.

"It feels amazing," Finland forward Marko Anttila said, per Ryan Quigley of NBCOlympics.com. "You can think about these things before the tournament or even during the tournament. Now it's possible. We have to play a better game than we did today to win the gold medal. We are ready for that."

Finland didn't generate much offense in the semifinals. Sakari Manninen scored a goal late in the first period, then the Finns didn't get the puck in the net again until Harri Pesonen scored an empty-net goal in the game's final minute.

If Finland hopes to win the gold, it may need a better offensive performance in the climactic game.

The ROC is coming off a solid defensive performance in the semifinals. It was tied at 1-1 with Sweden at the end of regulation, and then neither team scored during overtime. Each team scored twice in the first five rounds of the shootout, before Arseni Gritsyuk scored in the eighth round to lift the Russian Olympic Committee to victory. 

"Everybody who shot, we were united, and the whole team is happy that we are moving on," ROC forward Vadim Shipachyov said, per Quigley.

Sweden was having a strong showing in Beijing, so it was impressive that the Russian Olympic Committee held the Swedes to one goal. Ivan Fedotov recorded 34 saves as the team shut down Sweden's offense for most of the game.

The ROC has allowed eight goals over its first five games, and six of those goals came in its loss to the Czech Republic in the preliminary round. The Russians opened the Winter Games with back-to-back shutouts against Switzerland and Denmark.

This will be the first time that the ROC and Finland will face off at the Winter Olympics since 2014, when Finland notched a 3-1 win in the quarterfinals in Sochi, Russia.