Japan missed out on a figure skating team medal at the Pyeongchang Games on Monday, finishing the final in last place for the second straight Winter Olympics.

Canada went one better than its Sochi Olympic silver medal, securing the gold with one event -- the ice dance free dance -- to spare. The Canadians, in the end, had a final score of 73 points, the Olympic Athlete from Russia team took the silver with 66 and the United States, with 62 points, the bronze medal. Italy (56) was fourth and Japan (50) fifth.

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Japan started the day in fifth and was looking for a lift from Keiji Tanaka in the men's free program and then Kaori Sakamoto in the women's free, but neither was able to find their spark on Olympic debut, recording the lowest scores in their respective events.

Kana Muramoto and Chris Reed also placed last in the ice dance free dance.

In the men's free program, Tanaka had his opening quadruple salchow downgraded to a double and never recovered, his skate earning only 148.36 points, all but ending Japan's chances of a medal.

"I thought the salchow would influence the way I jumped the rest of the way and I wasn't able to find a way back," said Tanaka, whose second quad salchow was also downgraded.

"I didn't want to let it drag me down...I am really disappointed. I have to learn from my mistakes today and try and skate with strength and confidence (in the singles event)."

Sakamoto skated a relatively clean program but admitted she was forced to chase points after under-rotating a triple flip at the start of her skate.

"I was left trying to figure out what to do," said the 17-year-old Sakamoto.

"When you succeed on your first jump you tend to get better and better but when something like that happens you are left trying to work out where you can recover in the rest of your program. I feel bad that I have let the team down."

Three-time world champion Patrick Chan recovered from a poor short program to record a season-best score of 179.75 to top the men's free. The Canadians went on to claim victory after Gabrielle Daleman placed third in the women's free skate.

"We had determination this time around," said Chan. "We saw the potential we had in Sochi and didn't capitalize on it. This time, we really wanted to nail it into the coffin and win this thing."

"It's such an exhilarating feeling because we're such a tight-knit team, and we've been from the same generation so we want to win this medal for all of us."

Daleman said, "It's super different (to Sochi). The first time I was (at the Olympics) I was there for the experience, but now I am here in Pyeongchang as a competitor and here to play."

"It was just so different then, the age and maturity-wise. I am just so honored I got to represent Canada in this team event. We have such a great, strong team and I couldn't be more proud."

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir put the icing on the cake for Canada with victory in the ice dance, scoring 118.10.

Adding to the drama, a piece of figure skating history was written in the women's free skate when Mirai Nagasu became the first American woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition.

"Four years ago when I was left off the (U.S. Olympic) team, I wanted to make another Olympic team, and I knew I would really have to be something special," said Nagasu, whose parents emigrated from Japan to the United States.

"So to become the first American (female figure skater) to land a triple axel at the Olympic Games is historical, and no one can take that away from me."