In what was almost a carbon copy of his game against the New York Islanders a couple weeks ago, Martin Erat of the Nashville Predators found himself watching from the penalty box as his opponent scored a decisive goal.
In Long Island, it was the game tying goal in the closing seconds. Wednesday, it was the game-winning goal in the closing minutes.
The Czech Republic lost to Finland 2-0 in a game that sends the Finns to the Semifinals and the Czech’s home without a medal.
Erat cleared the puck over the glass and received a two minute delay of game penalty as a result. Just over a minute later, Finland’s Niklas Hagman scored to put his team up 1-0. The Czech’s had some good chances trying to even the score but Miika Kiprusoff stood on his head and kept the puck out.
Valtteri Filppula added an empty netter to put the final nail in the Czech Republic’s coffin.
Erat is the third Nashville player to be ousted from the tournament. Marcel Goc and Alexander Sulzer‘s trip to Vancouver ended early when Germany got bounced by Canada on Tuesday night. Erat finished the 2010 Olympics with one assist, six shots and a plus-1 rating in all five games.
Finland advances to play the United States on Friday afternoon.