Finland won its third game in a row at the men’s Ice Hockey World Championship in the Czech Republic on Thursday, blanking Slovenia 4-0. The Finnish Lions have not allowed any scores against their goal in more than 190 minutes of play, since suffering an embarrassing 5-1 loss to Team USA in their IIHF tournament opener. On Saturday afternoon they play Slovakia ahead of challenging matches against Belarus and Russia.
Finland now ranks first of all tournament teams in goalkeeping and is tied for the best penalty-killing, while ranked fourth in powerplay success.
Quarterfinal berth assured?
Belarus, which downed USA 5-2, now tops Group B after four games with 10 points. Finland is one point behind, in a three-way tie with the Americans and Russians. Slovenia has yet to score a point. Thus Finland has a strong chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.
Sweden is second in Group A with 11 points, one behind Canada. Switzerland is in a relatively distant third place.
Rinne posts third consecutive shutout
Finland got an early break against Slovenia with Leo Komarov and Petri Kontiola scoring in a span of 41 seconds in the first period. Florida youngster Aleksander Barkov and Joonas Kemppainen scored in the second for their third victory. Goalie Pekka Rinne stopped 13 shots for his third straight shutout at the worlds. The Nashville goalie had to stop only 13 shots by Slovenia.
Finland has three more matches in the preliminary round, against Slovakia around 4pm Saturday, surprisingly strong Belarus on Monday afternoon and Russia on Tuesday evening.
The quarterfinals begin on Thursday 14 May, with the semis on Saturday 16 May and the final the next day.
Reliving '95 gold fever
Despite the success in Czech Republic, Finnish hockey fans’ attention was divided on Thursday. Many were keeping one eye on Finnish players’ success in the NHL and another on commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the country’s first win in the hockey worlds (the Lions have also won gold in 2011 as well as seven silvers and three bronzes).
Yle rebroadcast the 1995 Stockholm final against Sweden ‘in real time’ online – even urging fans to get into the ‘90s mood by sending in comments by fax.