Finland blanks Czechs, meets Russia in Final

The Finns had a good start when Jori Lehtera got on the scoreboard a first time at 8:57 when he beat Czech Goalie Alexander Salak. Finland recorded 12 shots on goal, double the shots than the Czechs in the first period. Period 2 started with a number of minor penalties, two of them called against Finland for Cross-Checking (Petri Kontiola) and Tripping (Olli Palola), one for Czech Republic for High Sticking (Petr Zamorsky). And exactly this powerplay was enough for the Finns to score their second goal of the evening when Jarkko Immonen got the puck passed Salak, assisted by Kontiola and Jere Karalahti at 31:02. The Czechs were unable to get passed Goalie Pekka Rinne who stopped all 13 shots during the first two periods.

For quite a while, both Teams were even in the final period and it seemed that the Czechs just didn't have a solution to get on the scoreboard. And so the last two minutes of the game approached, Coach Vladimir Ruzicka first pulled Salak for Jagr and shortly after took a time out but the Czechs weren't able to avoid the 3:0 on an empty net goal by Jori Lehtera with his second goal of the evening at 59:49.

Czech Republic will face Sweden in tomorrow's Bronze Medal game while Finland will play Russia. Both Teams drew up in the Preliminary round where Russia beat the neighbour 4:2. This is the first time that these Teams meet in a Final of the world championship.

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