HOSTS Russia crashed out of the men’s ice hockey tournament as Finland produced a determined defensive performance to win their quarterfinal 3-1.

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team appeared on course for the last four when Ilya Kovalchuk made the most of a power play to open the scoring.

Finland, bronze medallists at Vancouver 2010, hit straight back through Juhamatti Aaltonnen’s angled shot before Teemu Selanne completed the comeback just before the first intermission with a closerange finish.

The Finns made it three early in the second period as Mikael Granlund slotted home and there was no way back for Russia, whose president Vladimir Putin demanded medals from the event.

Star forward Alexander Ovechkin offered no excuses for his team’s demise.

‘‘We started the game well and scored a goal but after that we made two mistakes, which resulted in two goals,’’ said the Washington Capitals captain.

‘‘We tried to gather ourselves back but we were not able to do it.

‘‘We attacked, we had our moments, we fought until the end to score, but it just hasn’t worked for us. We lost our Olympic Games. There is no one to blame.’’ Finland’s Teemu Selanne feels a punishing schedule may not have helped Russia’s cause.

‘‘It’s a huge win. Obviously, we were not favourites, but you’ve got to believe,’’ he said.

‘‘We knew that they played four games in five nights, and we might have a little more extra jump than them. We had to make sure they had to grind every opportunity for what they get, and I think it worked.

‘‘We had nothing to lose.

We were not supposed to win.

They had all the pressure. I think they were out of gas a little bit, and we tried to take advantage of that, and the game plan worked.’’