BOSTON — Ding, ding, ding. Round 2 is on — and the 4 Nations Face-Off trophy will be on the line.

Canada hung on for a 5-3 victory over Finland on Monday afternoon at TD Garden to tee up a high-profile championship bout with Team USA on Thursday, which will make for a riveting conclusion to a captivating tournament that has been more than the NHL could’ve ever asked for.

“The last thing we wanted to do was go home, today or tomorrow or whatever,” said Nathan MacKinnon, who moved into a three-way tie with USA’s Jake Guentzel and Finland’s Mikael Granlund for the most goals in the tournament after scoring twice in the win. “We’d love to play [the U.S.] again. We feel like we can beat those guys. We plan on playing a little better Thursday.”

This game was only about getting to the next one for Team Canada.

After they were pushed around by the Americans in their first and only loss of the tournament on Saturday night at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada was suddenly in control of its own fate if it hoped to get another shot at their rivals. Only a regulation win on Monday would lock it in.

Connor McDavid said it was far from over.

He said they’d treat Monday like a Game 7.

That energy was there in force to start the game, but dissipated in the final minutes.

One thing about Suomi: They never give up. Three goals — two from Granlund in the span of 23 seconds with an extra skater on — toward the end of the third period allowed Finland to make Canada sweat for a second.

Sidney Crosby then upended Granlund at center ice to set the puck loose before Canada’s captain sent it into the empty net to ice the game.

“We were probably guilty of sitting back there late and they capitalized, but give them credit,” Crosby said. “They didn’t give up. They kept pushing. Tough team to play against so it was important to get the lead.”

Regardless of the way it ended, the Canadians were way more pleased with this performance than their last against Team USA. The consensus was that they’d have to play a lot more like they did against Finland on Monday if they want to beat the Americans, who have become the favorites in the tournament.

Canada head coach Jon Cooper accurately articulated this is what we’ve all been waiting for.

And after Saturday’s clash between the two countries was Mayhem on Ice — with three fights breaking out in the first nine seconds of the game — Cooper described it as a made-for-TV event.

“It’s going to be intense,” Brad Marchand said after playing in his home NHL arena. “They’ve shown the type of game they can play. They don’t give up much. So they’re going to be ready to compete hard on Thursday. We’re going to be the same. We’re obviously really excited about, have another crack at these guys. It’s going to be an intense game for sure.”

“There’s no bigger rivalry in hockey than Canada-U.S., and I think it’s the matchup that everybody wanted. So it’s going to be an extremely intense game, one we’re all going to be looking forward to.”

Connor McDavid opened the scoring of the game for the second time in as many contests, finding twine off a wrister through traffic to get Canada on the board.

Just 46 seconds later, MacKinnon buried his first of two goals after getting behind Finland’s defense to double Canada’s lead, 2-0.

Finland immediately called a timeout, but it didn’t have the desired reset.

The game wasn’t even seven minutes old before Canada had a 3-0 lead, after Brayden Point backhanded in a rebound. Cooper had highlighted Point’s game following the loss to Team USA, which led to the Lightning forward remaining on McDavid’s line for Monday’s contest.

Crosby later fed MacKinnon in the right circle for the four-goal lead just over five minutes into the second period.

That forced Finland to give goalie Kevin Lankinen the hook, after the Canucks netminder gave up four goals on 13 shots. Predators goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 14 of the 14 shots he saw in relief.

“Both teams are really good teams, it’s only one game, anything can happen,” Finland coach Antti Pennane said of Canada and USA, after he said maybe the latter would win. “Let’s see.”