Finland routs Norway, Czechs prevail in Swiss shootout
Finland again showed a ruthless appetite for goals on Tuesday by dispatching Norway 7-0 at the ice hockey world championship.
The Czech Republic beat Switzerland 5-4 after a penalty shootout while Slovakia rebounded from two losses by rallying to a 4-2 victory over Austria. Newcomer South Korea remained without a point after going down 5-0 to Latvia.
Finland took control of the Group B game in Herning during the opening period, with Veli-Matti Savinainen scoring his fourth goal of the competition and defenceman Marko Anttila capitalizing on a defensive blunder.
Teuvo Teravainen also claimed his fourth goal of the championship before Kasperi Kapanen made it 4-0.
Markus Nutivaara added the fifth on a power play and captain
Mikael Granlund and Saku Maenalanen completed the scoring.
“We try to pressure a lot and I feel like we’re getting a lot of pucks back,’’ said Granlund,
who also had two assists. “Hopefully, we’ll keep it up, the games are getting tougher now.’’
Finland leads Group B with nine points from three games after scoring 23 goals. The United States is on eight points, Canada has seven, Latvia five and Norway three.
Forward Michal Repik was the only scorer in the Group A shootout in Copenhagen as he secured a second win for the Czechs.
In a wild middle period, Gregory Hofmann and Simon Moser put the Swiss 3-1 ahead in the space of 80 seconds before the Czechs replied through Michal Moravcik.
Nino Niederreiter restored the two-goal lead with his second goal but the Czechs hit back thanks to Dmitrij Jaskin and Repik.
Switzerland has six points in Group A, three behind Russia and Sweden. The Czechs and Slovakia are on four points while Austria has one.
Earlier, Brian Lebler put the Austrians ahead with the help of a deflection off Slovakia captain Andrej Sekara 1:33 into the first period before Marcel Hascak levelled.
Tomas Jurco gave the Slovaks the lead in the middle period and then Christian Jaros made it 3-1.
Austria replied through Peter Schneider in the final period and took off goaltender Bernhard Starkbaum for an extra attacker.
But Michal Kristof slid the puck into an empty net for the fourth goal as Slovakia claimed its first victory. Austria is winless.
Two goals from captain Roberts Bukarts and one apiece by Gints Meija, Ronalds Kenins and Rudolfs Balcers led Latvia to its second victory.
Two of Latvia’s goals came from power plays as Korea was called for nine two-minute penalties in Herning.
“It’s frustrating when we make mistakes like that,’’ Canadian-born Korea goaltender Matt Dalton said after making 33 saves.
Elvis Merzlikins stopped 16 shots for the shutout.
Korea has scored one goal in its opening three games and allowed 23.