Finland beats Russians for women’s Olympic hockey bronze

Finland defeated the Olympic Athletes from Russia 3-2 to take the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic women’s hockey bronze medal Wednesday.

Petra Nieminen put Finland on top just 2:23 into the game and Susanna Tapani doubled the lead 10 seconds into the second period.

Olga Sosina answered for the Russians but Linda Valimaki responded for Finland later in the second period.

Lyudmila Belyakova’s power-play goal with 13:57 remaining pulled the Russians within the final margin but they could not find an equalizer.

The Finns matched their best Olympic women’s hockey finish, having also taken bronze in 1998 and 2010. Russians have never taken a medal in the event.

Four-time defending champion Canada and the United States meet Thursday for the gold medal.