Finland crushes Denmark to earn 3 important points

One of the front-runners of the tournament, Finland, matched up against one of the underdogs, Denmark. What many expected to be a one-sided game from the start turned into a surprisingly close battle until Finland scored two quick goals in the second period. The final score of the game was 5-1 as the Finns outshot Denmark 51-19.

Later in the first, Aurén had to stop long shots by Rasmus Lyoe and Nikolai Gade, Sorensen denied Samu Markkula with a blocker, but couldn´t glove his top shelf finding wrister and the score was 1-0 for Finland. Denmark got close to scoring as well, but a wrist shot by Emil Kristensen only hit the post.

The second-period curse of the Danish team proved to exist yet again. Early in the frame, after a pass from Teuvo Teräväinen and with Sorensen down, Artturi Lehkonen doubled the lead. On a following power play for Team Finland, it was Artturi Lehkonen again who found the back of the net, this time on a rebound to make it 3-0.

The Finnish team kept on attacking and almost scored again when Barkov made some slick moves around a couple of Danish defencemen but his rising backhander was gloved by Sorensen. With six minutes left in the second, Team Denmark got on the board when Matthias Asperup found Aurén´s five-hole with a long, unexpected shot from the right wing.

"Even though we lost, it was a pretty special game for me, because I scored my first goal on such an event," Asperup said. "It´s too bad we couldn´t get any points in the group stage. We were pretty close to that in the game with the Czechs."

Early in the third, two big back-to-back chances made the highlight-reel of the game. Nine minutes into the period, Tikkinen moved through the entire Danish defence and when he had Sorensen down he tried to pass the puck instead of firing it so the chance ended at the post. Then, the puck got to the blueline where Pokka ripped it up and Rasmus Kulmala managed to change its direction right in front of Sorensen to make it 4-1.

The deflections really worked out good for the Finns. Just a couple of minutes later, Mikko Vainonen fired the puck from the blue line and Henri Ikonen tipped it in to make the final score 5-1 in the last group stage game for Team Denmark.

"We played well but we have to do more work on the ice. The good thing is we scored goals and won the game," Teräväinen, one of the highest-ranked European prospects for the upcoming NHL draft, said.