“In such tournaments, matches are often one goal away, the score is tight and today it was no different,” said Finnish captain Valtteri Filppula. “The Latvians have a good team, they defended well and the goalkeepers caught great. I am really glad that we were able to score a decisive power play goal in the end,” the Geneva striker added for the official website of the championship.
The first third did not offer much of a significant chance, goalkeepers Säteri and Merzlikins faced only six shots per goal in total. Fin Säteri was the first to collect, which the Balcers surpassed after renumbering two to one.
The Northerners managed to equalize shortly after half of the match, when they played a power play for the first time in the match. The foul of Vítkovice striker Roberts Bukarts was punished by Manninen, who promptly arrived with luck to find a blocked Granlund bullet for Merzlikins.
The Latvians last defeated Finland in 2014, but at last year’s championship in Riga, they gained a point in a duel for overtime and were close to a draw after normal playing time this year as well. In the 57th minute, however, Dzierkals was eliminated and the Finns were able to take advantage of the Pilsen striker’s foul quickly. Granlund needed only 18 seconds and decided the match with an accurate shot.
“Granlund is a great player, which we saw today. He has been traveling hard and immediately joined the game. It was obvious that the opponent tried to watch him more, but he still found a way to win the match,” the striker praised his teammate. Jere Sallinen.
Latvia did not even compete in power play. “I don’t think we played badly on Friday (against the USA), but we had a loss of concentration or we didn’t catch up quickly. Today we did our homework quite well. We knew how Finland plays. In recent years we have played several close “matches at the World Cup or the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, they always do a little better,” said Latvian captain Rodrigo Abols.
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