2022 gold medallists Finland gained revenge on Slovakia after a 4-1 defeat in the pair's opening match of the Group Stage at Milan-Cortina, denying their opponents a repeat of the bronze medals they won in Beijing four years ago.
Both sides had to pick themselves up after tough semi-final losses the day before, as Canada completed a turnaround in the final minute to beat the Finns 3-2, while Slovakia were outclassed 6-2 by the United States.
Despite their heartache, it was Finland who made the stronger start, and they took the lead in the eighth minute when Miro Heiskanen played the puck from behind the net to Artturi Lehkonen on the left just inside the blue line.
His shot was saved by Samuel Hlavaj, but under pressure he failed to cover up, allowing the puck to trickle through his legs and be tapped home by an alert Sebastian Aho.
Slovakia grew into the game past the midway point of the period, but in they failed to turn their territory into pressure on Juuse Saros' goal, as the Finnish goaltender needed only make saves in the first 20 minutes, which ended with Oliver Okuliar being called for holding.
Finland still had 01:35 left on the powerplay at the start of the second period, but no sooner had they failed to make the most of the man advantage did they concede their first penalty, as Erik Haula was sent to the box for delay of game.
The Leijonat successfully killed the penalty after Saros dealt with the biggest threat - a powerful Dalibor Dvorsky strike from the right - before turning the screw shortly before the halfway mark.
Joel Armia squared the puck for Haula to carry into the Slovak zone, and when assessing the options ahead of him from the right side, he ripped a quick shot that flew past Hlavaj to put Finland 2-0 up.
Slovakia were still struggling to threaten the Finnish net after Lehkonen was called for interference, but following chances for Martin Gernat and Erik Cernak, they were back in the game with a goal out of nothing right at the end of the second.
A contested puck on the blue line ricocheted behind Saros' net, but the goaltender misjudged the bounce off the board, and as he scrambled back into position, Tomas Tatar picked up the loose puck and lifted it over Saros to make it a one-goal game.
Hopes of a Slovak comeback were curtailed early in the third period when Pavol Regenda was penalised for slashing, even if Finland made it two scoreless powerplays each, despite Oliver Kapanen rattling the post with a good strike.
But when Adam Ruzicka was guilty of tripping soon after, it was third time lucky with the extra man for the outgoing champions in the ninth minute, as Heiskanen tried his luck from the blue line with a wrist shot, which evaded Hlavaj thanks to a deflection off the stick of Roope Hintz.
And the bronze medals were all but secured 42 seconds of play later, as a slip from Gernat allowed Kaapo Kakko to race away, cutting in from the right and burying his shot off the post and past the goaltender for 4-1.
Slovakia coach Vladimir Orszagh pulled the goaltender with five minutes remaining in a desperate attempt to salvage the game, but it quickly backfired as Hintz won possession at centre ice, allowing Joel Armia to fire into the empty net from beyond the blue line.
Credit to Slovakia, they kept pushing for the full 60 minutes, but leaving their goal exposed led to the inevitable, as this time Armia was the provider, laying the puck across to Haula, who had the simplest of tasks to score his second of the game and make the final score 6-1.
For Finland, they finish on the podium in the men's hockey for the fifth time in six Winter Olympics, as they added another bronze to the ones they took in 2010 and 2014, following silver 20 years ago.
Gold medals have evaded Finland across the 2026 games, as the nation has won one silver medal, but the hockey team have added a fifth bronze to the country's tally. Slovakia, meanwhile have not registered a medal so far.
On Sunday, United States take on Canada for the gold medals in the men's ice hockey final.