Krog Busy, but Finland Defeats Denmark 4-1

Finland has grabbed their first victory of the World Juniors after a 4-1 win over Denmark.

The Finns didn’t even need three minutes to score the games first goal. Searching for their first win and hoping to avenge their loss to the Danes, Joona Koppanen made it 1-0 after his wrist shot from about 10 feet out beat Kasper Krog through the five-hole, giving the Finns confidence with an early goal.

Finland doubled their lead at 6:56. Nashville Predators prospect Eeli Tolvanen would see his hard shot hit the end boards. Aapeli Rasanen would skate in front of the net and one-time the rebound, giving the Finns the 2-0 lead.

The Danes weren’t generating much offense, taking just one shot in the first period. On their third shot of the game, Nikolaj Krog unleashed a quick wrist shot that blew over Ukko-Pekka Luukonen’s shoulder and in to make it 2-1 and give Denmark their first goal of the tournament.

Finland controlled the play going forward, however. At 15:38, a rocket from the point by Juuso Valimaki gave Finland their two-goal lead back. Henri Jokiharju would swat one in before the second came to a close, grabbing the rebound to give Finland a 4-1 lead into the intermission. Neither team would find the back of the net in the third, but Kasper Krog had an incredible 58-save night in an eventual 4-1 loss to the Finns.

Denmark will meet up with Canada on Saturday for their third contest of the tournament before closing their round-robin against Slovakia on Sunday. The Finns will play the Slovaks Saturday afternoon before a big game against USA on Sunday.

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