photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
The quarterfinal pairings are still wide open after Finland’s 2-1 win over Slovakia. The Finns can still finish second in Group A, if Canada doesn’t get any points in their game against Sweden.
Patrik Puistola and Waltteri Merela scored for Finland. Emil Larmi made 29 saves for Finland. Robert Lantosi scored for Slovakian, and Samuel Hlavaj stopped the puck 22 times.
“Our system is based on not letting in a lot of goals, that’s key for us. The game against Canada showed that if we believe in our system, we can beat any team,” Finland's Jan-Mikael Jarvinen said.
“We played a good game, we knew it was going to be our last game of the season so we wanted to leave it all out there,” said Lantosi.
Finland’s coach Antti Pennanen had decided to rest goaltender Juuse Saros and forward Teuvo Teravainen, who didn’t dress for the game.
At the outset, it wasn’t the easiest game for Slovakia. First of all, their chance of qualifying to the playoff stage had already evaporated, and second, Slovakia hadn’t won an IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship (or an Olympic) game against Finland since April 28, 2004.
Finland was the first one to score. Juuso Parssinen won a puck battle in the corner, he curled up and sent a long backhand pass to Vili Saarijarvi on point. Saarijarvi fired a hard shot pass for Puistola to re-direct, and it hit the back of the net at 5.18.
Slovakia controlled the game for most of the period, though, and even outshot Finland 12-8, but couldn’t quite get to the most dangerous scoring areas.
Finland got to start the period with a man-advantage and then had two more powerplay opportunities in the middle frame, and even though they couldn’t capitalize on them, they tipped the scales in Finland’s favor and pushed Slovakia on their heels.
With 1:43 remaining in the period, Finland finally broke through, with an extra player on the ice during a delayed penalty. Jarvinen, the 37-year-old Ice Hockey World Championship rookie who had to watch the first three games from the stands, skated around the Slovak defense, cut toward the net, and found Merela open in the slot. Merela’s quick release beat Hlavaj on the blocker side, and doubled Finland’s lead to 2-0.
The assist was Jarvinen’s first Ice Hockey World Championship point.
“Of course it was nice to be able to help us win the game,” he said.
Slovakia didn’t show signs of giving up, as they killed off another penalty in the third period and then started up their own power play in pursuit of a goal.
It came at 14:42 into the period.
Lantosi fired from the left circle, using a Finnish defenseman as a screen, and beat Larmi high on the short side. Pavol Regenda and Matus Sukel picked up assists for the goal.
The last minutes were a mad scramble, but Slovakia couldn’t get the puck in and Finland pulled out the win, 2-1.
“It’s hard to win a hockey game if you only score one goal. We struggled with goal scoring the whole tournament. Se still wanted to prove to people that we’re a good team, and we wanted to win,” Slovakia’s Samuel Takac said.
“Tough games and close wins, but good,” Finnish defenseman Atro Leppanen summed up the preliminary round.
Patrik Puistola and Waltteri Merela scored for Finland. Emil Larmi made 29 saves for Finland. Robert Lantosi scored for Slovakian, and Samuel Hlavaj stopped the puck 22 times.
“Our system is based on not letting in a lot of goals, that’s key for us. The game against Canada showed that if we believe in our system, we can beat any team,” Finland's Jan-Mikael Jarvinen said.
“We played a good game, we knew it was going to be our last game of the season so we wanted to leave it all out there,” said Lantosi.
Finland’s coach Antti Pennanen had decided to rest goaltender Juuse Saros and forward Teuvo Teravainen, who didn’t dress for the game.
At the outset, it wasn’t the easiest game for Slovakia. First of all, their chance of qualifying to the playoff stage had already evaporated, and second, Slovakia hadn’t won an IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship (or an Olympic) game against Finland since April 28, 2004.
Finland was the first one to score. Juuso Parssinen won a puck battle in the corner, he curled up and sent a long backhand pass to Vili Saarijarvi on point. Saarijarvi fired a hard shot pass for Puistola to re-direct, and it hit the back of the net at 5.18.
Slovakia controlled the game for most of the period, though, and even outshot Finland 12-8, but couldn’t quite get to the most dangerous scoring areas.
Finland got to start the period with a man-advantage and then had two more powerplay opportunities in the middle frame, and even though they couldn’t capitalize on them, they tipped the scales in Finland’s favor and pushed Slovakia on their heels.
With 1:43 remaining in the period, Finland finally broke through, with an extra player on the ice during a delayed penalty. Jarvinen, the 37-year-old Ice Hockey World Championship rookie who had to watch the first three games from the stands, skated around the Slovak defense, cut toward the net, and found Merela open in the slot. Merela’s quick release beat Hlavaj on the blocker side, and doubled Finland’s lead to 2-0.
The assist was Jarvinen’s first Ice Hockey World Championship point.
“Of course it was nice to be able to help us win the game,” he said.
Slovakia didn’t show signs of giving up, as they killed off another penalty in the third period and then started up their own power play in pursuit of a goal.
It came at 14:42 into the period.
Lantosi fired from the left circle, using a Finnish defenseman as a screen, and beat Larmi high on the short side. Pavol Regenda and Matus Sukel picked up assists for the goal.
The last minutes were a mad scramble, but Slovakia couldn’t get the puck in and Finland pulled out the win, 2-1.
“It’s hard to win a hockey game if you only score one goal. We struggled with goal scoring the whole tournament. Se still wanted to prove to people that we’re a good team, and we wanted to win,” Slovakia’s Samuel Takac said.
“Tough games and close wins, but good,” Finnish defenseman Atro Leppanen summed up the preliminary round.
Slovakia vs Finland - 2025 IIHF WM
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