The two last faced each other in the IIHF World Championship in 2019. Finland defeated Sweden 5-4 in overtime in the quarterfinals and went on to win gold; Lankinen allowed four goals on 18 shots in that game, including one by Pettersson. “As of now we’re not teammates for a week,” Lankinen said. “But maybe when we get back, we’ll talk more.”

And people will keep doing it, too, because the intense rivalry between the two Nordic nations separated by one sea has been passed down by generations at the Olympics, the world championships and now at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

It was a close, hard-fought game between the United States and Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal...for two periods. In a tournament featuring the best of the best, you would expect the closeness of the contest to carry over into the final stanza.