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Finland 3, Russia 1

Russia eliminated by Tuukka Rask, Finland

Olli Jokinen (left) embraces Tuukka Rask, who made 37 saves for victorious Finland.jonathan nackstrand/afp/getty

SOCHI, Russia — The Russians dutifully shook the Finns’ hands and then skated to the center of a rink built to showcase their return to Olympic hockey dominance. When they raised their sticks in a mournful salute, they got more whistles than cheers from their devastated fans.

Alex Ovechkin, captain Pavel Datsyuk, and their teammates had nursed dreams about this week for several years — all their lives, really.

They were all dashed in 60 frustrating minutes against Finland.

Russia crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals Wednesday with a 3-1 loss, extending a historic hockey nation’s gold-medal drought past 22 years and putting an enormous damper on the final days of the Sochi Games.

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‘‘Inside, I’m absolutely empty,’’ Datsyuk said through a translator.

Rask greeted Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin after Finland’s victory. Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Ducks star Teemu Selanne scored an early goal and Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made 37 saves as Finland crushed the Russians’ plans to win hockey gold in front of their own fans for the first time. Russian and Soviet teams have won eight gold medals in hockey, but none since the Unified Team’s victory in 1992.

Ovechkin, Datsyuk, and Evgeni Malkin all hailed Russia’s home Olympics as the most important tournament of their careers, and President Vladimir Putin led the chorus of Russians hoping for another golden moment in Sochi. They’ll likely have only bitter memories after losses to the United States and Finland, which left Russia out of the medals entirely for the third straight games.

Despite its roster of high-priced offensive stars, Russia couldn’t score in the final 52 minutes after Ilya Kovalchuk’s early power-play goal. Russia pressed relentlessly and fruitlessly in the third, but Rask stopped each of their 15 shots.

‘‘To be honest, I’m a little bit sad, also, for them,’’ said Selanne, a six-time Olympian. ‘‘Obviously, they had a big dream to win the gold medal here, and then it doesn’t work, so it’s kind of disappointing in many ways, because that would be a great story. But again, it’s proving to the hockey world that you never know.’’

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Ovechkin, the reigning NHL MVP, failed to score another goal after scoring on his first shot 1:17 into Russia’s opener against Slovenia. Malkin, who dropped to one knee after the final horn, also didn’t score after the first 3:54 of the opener.

‘‘We had a good start, score power play, feel pretty good,’’ Ovechkin said. ‘‘Few mistakes cost us the game. We tried to score another one, but we didn’t score . . . No emotion right now.’’

Selanne and Mikael Granlund each had a goal and an assist for the Finns, who overcame an early deficit and silenced the Bolshoy Ice Dome with two goals in the first period. Finland will face top-seeded Sweden in the semifinals on Friday.