2016 IIHF World Championship final
# 2016 IIHF World Championship final

The 2016 IIHF World Championship final was played at the VTB Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia, on 22 May 2016 between Finland and Canada. Canada defeated Finland 2–0 to win the championship. Finland and Canada entered the tournament as the fourth and first place seeds, respectively.

## Road to the final

### Finland

Finland's last made the final in 2014, losing out to Russia 2–5. The team went undefeated 7–0 record in round robin play, beating opposing finalists Canada 4–0 in the last group game. They then beat Denmark 5–1 in the quarterfinals and Russia 3–1 in the semifinals.

### Canada

Defending champions Canada were first seeds coming into the championship. The team went 6–1 record in round robin play, losing to opposing finalists Finland 0–4 in the last group game. They then beat Sweden 6–0 in the quarterfinals and the United States 4–3 in the semifinals.

### Summary

| Finland | Finland | Round | Canada | Canada |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Opponent | Result | Preliminary round | Opponent | Result |
| Belarus | 6–2 | Game 1 | United States | 5–1 |
| Germany | 5–1 | Game 2 | Hungary | 7–1 |
| United States | 3–2 | Game 3 | Belarus | 8–0 |
| Hungary | 3–0 | Game 4 | Germany | 5–2 |
| France | 3–1 | Game 5 | Slovakia | 5–0 |
| Slovakia | 5–0 | Game 6 | France | 4–0 |
| Canada | 4–0 | Game 7 | Finland | 0–4 |
| | | Preliminary | | |
| Both teams played in Group B: Pos Teamvte Pld W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation 1  Finland 7 7 0 0 0 29 6 +23 21 Playoff round 2  Canada 7 6 0 0 1 34 8 +26 18 3  Germany 7 4 0 1 2 22 20 +2 13 4  United States 7 3 0 1 3 22 18 +4 10 5  Slovakia 7 2 1 0 4 15 23 −8 8 6  Belarus 7 2 0 0 5 16 32 −16 6 7  France 7 1 1 0 5 11 23 −12 5 8  Hungary (R) 7 1 0 0 6 12 31 −19 3 Relegation to Division I A Source: IIHF Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament. (R) Relegated Notes: ↑ The rules state that "the bottom ranked two teams will be relegated" and the 2017 hosts (France and Germany) cannot be relegated by rule. |||||
| Opponent | Result | Playoff | Opponent | Result |
| Denmark | 5–1 | Quarterfinals | Sweden | 6–0 |
| Russia | 3–1 | Semifinals | United States | 4–3 |

## Match

Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the tournament for Canada midway through the first period. The scoreline remained the same throughout the second period, despite a sustained Canadian attack. In an attempt to level the match, Finnish goaltender Mikko Koskinen was substituted with a minute to go in the last period for an extra attacker. The game was heading for a slender 1–0 win for the Canadians before Brad Marchand slotted in a second into an empty net in the final second of normal time. Canada goaltender Cam Talbot finished the game with 16 saves for his tournament leading 4th shutout.

