Russia maintain perfect record as Finland, Denmark & France win their games-NHL News
Italians succumb to 0-4 defeat to Russians, allowing the latter maintain perfect record in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships, underway in Sweden and Finland, simultaneously.
The loss has proved to be a double blow for the Italians as the team is set to be relegated to the next division for the next year’s event.
Russian goaltender, Semyon Varlamov, was the hero of the game with 29 saves to help Team Russia remain unbeatable.
With the win over Italy, Team Russia are due to face either Czech Republic of Norway in the quarterfinals.
Finland 4, Kazakhstan 1
Detroit Red Wings’ centre, Valtteri Filppula, with two goals and two assists, made sure his home country team does not lose third game in a row as Finland overwhelmed Kazakhstan, 4-1.
This was first victory for Finns after losing two consecutive games against Canada and USA. This was last game for the reigning champions, Finland, in the preliminary phase of the tournament. The game was dominated by Finns who outshot their opponents, 44-17.
In spite of dismal form by Kazakhstan, their goaltender, Vitali Kolesnik, was impressive with 44 saves. His counterpart, Petri Vehanen, stopped 17 out of 18 shots.
Denmark 2, Latvia 0
Morten Madsen and Morten Green scored a goal each as Denmark beat Lativa, 2-0.
Both teams were tied, 0-0, after first half of the game. The second half was productive for Denmark.
With the loss, Latvia do not have a chance to play in the quarterfinals while the win has allowed Denmark to avoid the possibility of relegation. They will play their last game of the ribbon-round against Norway, on Tuesday, May 15.
It was again a strong show-off by another goaltender, as Dane netminder helped his side’s victory by saving 35 shots and earned a shutout.
France 2, Belarus 1
French side after having gone down to some of humiliating losses against the US and Canada early in the preliminary phase scored a hard-fought win against Belarus on Monday, May 14.
Both sides played very competitive game until the decisive goal from Johann Auvitu's into second last minute, helping France stage the much-awaited win.
France managed to win even though Belarus had taken one-goal lead in the first period of the game, which they lost in the second period before going down another goal.
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