Finland had a great third period and won Karjala Cup
14 Nov 2010 | David Schlegel
Finland tried hard for two periods against Sweden, but Tre Kronor kept their archrivals scoreless and moved towards a victory in Karjala Cup. However, the Finns scored four times in the third period and managed to win the first Euro Hockey Tour tournament of the year.
Both teams played very offensively and it was a big surprise that the first period did not bring any goals. Finnish attacker Komarov took a very dangerous shot, but it went wide. On the other side a puck jumped near the goal line during the power play, but Vehanen saved it in the last moment. Just before the first buzzer Peltonen was granted a huge scoring chance, but his shot was too high.
Finland was a better team in the second period, but neither Kontiola nor Niskala beat Larsson, and Swedish forward Robert Nilsson ended up scoring from the top of the circle. Sweden was close, played very well in defense and did not let their opponent create scoring chances. However, exactly at 10 minutes to go, Puistola received a pass at the left circle and equalized the score. This was a turning moment of the game, as Swedish defense began turning sloppy. Two minutes later Kontiola and Lahti went into a 2-on-1 situation and beat Larsson again. A few minutes after that Immonen`s shot through a Swedish defenseman gave Finland a two-goal lead. Tre Kronor tried to play with an empty net, but Peltonen added the fourth goal for Finland. "We played good hockey today. We believed until the end we can turn the game over. We are very happy now," said Janne Lahti, who gathered two assists. "We did not start well. It is true that we scored the opener, but the Fins were very strong, used two power plays and won," commented Marcus Krüger, Swedish center.

The games between Finland and Sweden are always intense.Photo: Roman Kucera
Quotes from the coaches:
Jukka Jalonen (head coach of Finland): "It was a very hard game for us. We received a very unlucky goal from the Swedes. We took a lot of risks, but we managed to turn the game over in power plays. I am very satisfied with our performance".
Pär Mårts (head coach of Sweden): "I think we could watch a very good and nice game. We had several chances to add the second goal, but in the last 10 or 15 minutes we played bad and allowed four goals. Finland deserved to win".
Finland - Sweden 4:1 (0:0, 0:1, 4:0)
Goals and assists: 50. Puistola (Lehträ, Niskala), 53. Kontiola (Lahti, Välivaara), 57. Immonen (Lahti, Pihlström), 60. Peltonen - 32. Nilsson (Melin, Persson). Referees: Hribik, Jerabek (CZE) - Kekäläinen, Terho (FIN). Penalties: 6:4. Used penalties: 2:0. Attendance: 13006. Shots on goal: 29:27. Course of the game: 0:1, 4:1.
Finland: Vehanen - Hietanen, Puistola, Niskala, Välivaara, Jaakola, Väänänen, Kukkonen, Uusitalo - Aaltonen, Kapanen, Peltonen - Lehterä, Immonen, Laine - Lehtonen, Kontiola, Lahti - Petrell, Lindgren, Komarov - Pihlström
Sweden: Larsson - Johansson, Ekholm, Fernholm, Petrasek, Junland, Fälth, Erixon, Runbland - Nilsson, Persson, Melin - Silfverberg, Krüger, Lindström - Thörnberg, Olausson, Arlbrandt - Bång, Sjögren, Brodin