By Canadian Press

Canada drops shootout against Finland’s KalPa Kuopio in Spengler Cup final

Dec 31, 2018 | 5:30 AM

DAVOS, Switzerland — Jaakko Rissanen scored in the eighth round of a shootout to give Finnish club KalPa Kuopio a 2-1 win over three-time defending champion Canada in the final of the Spengler Cup on Monday.

Rissanen beat Canadian goalie Zach Fucale with a high backhand before KalPa netminder Denis Godla made a pad save on Canada captain Andrew Ebbett to end it.

Canada fell just short of matching its run of four consecutive Spengler Cup titles from 1995 to 1998. The loss also snapped Canada’s tournament record 12-game win streak.

It was KalPa’s first Spengler Cup title in the history of the annual holiday tournament.

The shootout was tied at 2-2 following three shooters each, bringing it to sudden death. Godla — the MVP of the 2015 world junior championship when he lifted Slovakia to a bronze medal in Toronto and Montreal — made five straight saves for the win.

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Zach Boychuk and Cory Emmerton scored in the shootout for Canada.

Godla also stopped Chris DiDomenico, Zac Dalpe, Boychuk and Emmerton in the shootout.

The game was scoreless until early in the third period when Daniel Winnik, following up a Torrey Mitchell breakaway, tucked the rebound past Godla. Eetu Luostarinen pulled the Finnish side even at 11:24, knocking home a bouncing puck.

Dalpe almost ended it in overtime but his backhand shot hit the post.

Canada outshot KalPa 40-23.

The Canadian Press