Sebastian Aho Steals the Show in 8-1 Win For Finland

Finland didn't waste time running up the score at the World Championships, defeating South Korea 8-1 on Saturday in their first game of the tournament in Denmark.

Nobody expected things to go easy for the Koreans, who, despite losing every game at the 2018 Olympics in February, showed some talent and an ability to keep games close. They were hoping an early four-minute power play opportunity would help generate some chances, but it instead resulted in a 2-0 lead for the Finns early in the game. At 3:41, Sebastian Aho blasted through the middle of the ice shorthanded after a pass from Teuvo Teravainen. Aho sent the puck over the arm of Matt Dalton and in for the 1-0 goal, with no Koreans in sight to stop the attack.

Then, at 5:55, Teravainen got one of his own after Aho set him up with a drop pass on the rush. Teravainen, Aho's Carolina Hurricanes teammate, would use the extra momentum to send the shot over Dalton's glove and in for the 2-0 goal early.

The two Hurricanes stars were placed on a pedestal on Saturday, and they deserved it. Teravainen would get his second assist of the night after feeding Mikko Rantanen along the boards. At 28:46, Rantanen sent a cross-ice pass to Aho, who one-timed the puck past Dalton to make it 3-0 on the power play, a lead that took the energy away from the Koreans.

The Aho show wasn't done. At 12:21 in the second, Aho beat out three defenders before finding Veli-Matti Savinainen in the slot. Savinainen easily directed the puck into the net, where Dalton was out of position and not prepared for a shot against as Finland took the 4-0 lead.

But on the next play, Korea made history. At 33:00 in the game, Michael Swift helped steal the puck in the defensive zone before using his speed to break out all alone. Swift proceeded to send the puck through Ville Husso's five-hole to score South Korea's first goal in the top division of the World Hockey Championships, just over a year after he scored the shootout goal that sent Korea to this year's tournament in the first place. 

It didn't matter for long, though, as Korea couldn't stage a comeback. Markus Nutivaara would score Finland's third shorthanded goal of the game before the end of the second period, tying a single-game record at the World Championships for most shorthanded goals in a single game as Finland would take a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. Saku Mäenalanen, Kasperi Kapanen and Janne Pesonen would score one each in the third period, finishing the game off with a 7-1 victory for the favoured Finns.

Finland sat out Friday, so they'll be thrust into action again on Sunday when they challenge Latvia at 20:15 local time. South Korea will play the early game, meeting up with Canada at 12:15 to kick off action in Denmark.

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