Leijonat scored seven goals in Denmark’s net in the final match of the first group. Hannes Björninen and Mikael Seppälä shone as Finland’s most effective players.
Simo Arkko,
Anu Karttunen
The Finnish men’s national ice hockey team defeated Denmark 7–1 in the insignificant final match of the A group.
Neither team had a stake in the match, as Denmark had lost its chance for the playoffs and Finland’s quarter-final opponent Canada had already been confirmed earlier.
They excelled as the lions’ most effective player Hannes Björninen (1+2) and started three goals Mikael Seppälä. The points were Seppälä’s first in these World Championships.
Scored his first World Cup goal Nikolas Matipalo (1+1) and Kaapo Kako (0+2) produced two power points each.
Finland and Canada will meet on Thursday from 20:20. Center of lions Sakari Manninen expect a fast-paced match.
– You can fight in that match. You get to throw your heart out on the ice and do things for your neighbor, Manninen told Urheilu.
Canada has Mikko Rantanen including a lot of skilled and combative players. However, Rantanen believes that Finland has enough good and strong defenders to keep the Canadian attackers in check.
– If we want to win, it will come through the defense, he said and told how his own offensive field is going to bring Canada to its knees:
– We need to get the ball rolling. To wrestle, get to places and put the puck in the backpack when the place comes.
In recent years, Finland has only played against Canada in the finals, but now the teams are already meeting in the quarterfinals.
– That once-over mentality guarantees that there are no better games!
A powerful start
Denmark was on the ropes right from the start. Lions led 2–0 after three and a half minutes, when Marko Anttila and Atte Ohtamaa succeeded in finishing. Anttila scored his goal by directing. Ohtamaa, on the other hand, was fighting Mikko Rantanen from passing the puck into the net.
The Lions had long runs in Denmark’s territory and even got a two-man advantage. However, Finland did not get through with superiority Teemu Hartikainen closer to the post shot.
At the end of the period, Finland got their third goal when a defender sneaked into the corner of the goal Ville Pokka guided his pack pair into the net of Mikael Seppälä’s flat.
Long spins
Throughout the match, the Lions had long runs to the Danish goal, and the second period also started with Finland in control. At 22:54, the endgame produced a result when Björninen hit Harri Pesonen input.
After the goal, the match had the flavor of playing for a long time. However, Finland’s number one chain had enough power to get Rantanen the opening goal of the games.
Rantanen did not succeed in his position, but Juho Lammikko moments later, Leijonat took a five-goal run away from Seppälä’s pass with an easy draw. At the end of the batch Kasperi Kapanen flashed his speed again and took the score to 6–0.
Larmin zero to pieces
For the beginning of the final round Nikolas Matipalo scored his first World Cup goal of his career from Björninen’s pass. Denmark countered the hit just 12 seconds later when Nikolaj Ehlers broke Emil Larmin from a small angle of zero.
However, Finland did not loosen its grip at any point in the match. In the third set too, Finland churned out long spins and Larmi was unemployed for a long time.
In the final moments, Larmik also got a few saves to his account. He made only 13 saves in the match.
Finland and Canada will meet on Thursday at 20:20 in Tampere. follows the events of the match moment by moment in the application and on the website.