Great First Period Secures First Victory for Finland – 03.12.2018

After losing their opening games, both teams were determined to get their first points. The Finns showed their quality and scored five goals in the first period. The Danish defense then improved and allowed just two more goals in the remainder of the match, but it was enough for Finland comfortably get their first two points of the tournament.

Denmark entered the game very fearlessly and Lassi Toriseva had to be very focused as he made his World Championship debut. A few minutes later, he could feel a bit more relaxed after Nico Salo tipped in Sami Johansson’s shot and opened the score. Johansson then sent Finland two goals ahead and after Salo’s second goal and two goals by Ville Lastikka, the Finns were in a 5-0 lead in the 16th minute. The first and only Danish success came two minutes before the first break and it was a real beauty by Mikkel Skov Nielsen.

The score after the first period was the same as at the WFC 2008 when Finland won 8-2. Almost halfway through the match, Jannik Wede Trolle was made aware that he doesn’t play ice hockey after he was awarded a two-minute penalty for a massive hit on one of the Finnish forwards. The power-play, however, remained unconverted. In the end, the fans at the O2 Arena saw just one single goal in the middle period when Mikko Hautaniemi increased the lead to 6-1.

After Finland opened the last twenty minutes with a quick power-play goal, it seemed they would start a scoring surge in the third period. But it was the only goal the Danes allowed in the third period, as they made their defensive wall almost unbreakable in the remained of the match. As time passed, the Danes were getting more and more aggressive and nervous, and one of their players, Marko Krogsgaard, was awarded a two-minute penalty for saying something he shouldn’t have to the referee. Despite Finland didn’t capitalize on this one-man advantage, they comfortably led the match to victory.