Finns Dominant Against Canada in Group B Thumping

Finland took advantage of a poor goaltending effort for Canada by taking a 5-1 victory on Saturday evening at the 2018 World Hockey Championships in Denmark.

A pair of own-goals resulted in a quick start to the game, with each team finding a way to score on their own nets. It all started at 8:50 when Mikko Rantanen stole the puck from Marc-Edouard Vlasic behind the net and skated just above the goal line with the puck. Rantanen would then send the puck towards the net, and while it looked harmless, Brayden Schenn deflected the puck past his own goalie, Curtis McElhinney, to make it 1-0 for Finland.

Two minutes later, Canada returned the favour. This time, Jean-Gabriel Pageau's hard slap shot would bounce off of Janne Pesonen's butt and past Harri Sateri, tying the game up quickly after the Canadians gave up the first goal for the first time in the tournament just prior.

But the Finns would regain their lead. Pesonen would instead tip the puck past Canada's netminder, deflecting a nice shot from Markus Nutivaara to make it 2-1 at 13:48 in the game. Finland would end McElhinney's game slightly after when Rantanen scored his second of the night, squeaking the disk under McElhinney's right arm while sprawling in the crease to make it 3-1, summoning Darcy Kuemper from the bench to finish the game.

Canada struggled to create any scoring chances in the final 40 minutes, and a ten-second span in the third period made the loud Finnish crowd very happy. Eeli Tolvanen would get his first goal of the tournament after Kuemper fanned on an attempt to clear the puck out of the zone, with the puck going straight to the future Nashville Predators superstar before sliding the puck over the goal line at 5:17. 

Then, ten seconds later, one of the most dangerous scoring duos in recent tournament history, Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho, connected on another goal. It was another weak one as Teravainen sent one through the legs of Kuemper, who wasn't prepared for the shot. It was the final goal of the game, as Canada failed to strike on a late power play chance as Finland would hold on for the 5-1 win.

Finland will now jump to second in Group B with the victory, pushing Canada back to fourth. Canada has two more games to go, with an important contest against Latvia on Monday before finishing the tournament off against Germany on Tuesday. The Finns have just one more contest to go, a 20:15 local time battle against Germany in Herning.

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