Canada downs Finland to secure 1st place in Group A
Despite running into some penalty trouble in the third period, Team Canada secured first place in Group A at the World Junior Championship thanks to a gutsy 6-3 victory against Finland on Monday.
The Canadians went undefeated in the tournament's preliminary round, outscoring their opponents 27-7 across four games.
Canada will take on Switzerland in the quarterfinal Wednesday, while Finland will face the loser of the Sweden-Germany preliminary-round finale.
The tournament hosts held a 5-1 lead entering the third period. However, a controversial goal by Joakim Kemell, which stood after an inconclusive video review, drew the Finns within three.
Then, Canada's penalty killers were put to the test against Finland's top-notch power play. With the Canadians already down a man, Will Cuylle received a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing, which gave the Finns 61 seconds on the two-man advantage. However, forward Ridly Greig made a handful of heroic blocks to keep Finland off the scoresheet.
Canada headed back to the five-on-three penalty kill with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. Roby Jarventie further cut into Canada's lead with a power-play goal, but William Dufour then iced the contest with an empty-netter.
Greig was named Canada's player of the game after chipping in with a goal and an assist.
It took the Canadians over six minutes to register their first shot of the game, but they made it count. Forward Brennan Othmann's deflection of Olen Zellweger's shot, which was briefly reviewed for a high stick, opened the scoring.
Tyson Foerster maintained his team's momentum with a power-play tally. The Canadians seemed set to enter the first intermission with a three-goal lead after Connor Bedard ripped a shot past goaltender Leevi Merilainen, but Samuel Helenius responded with less than one minute remaining in the period to get Finland on the board.
Greig turned the tide back in Canada's favor just 31 seconds into the middle frame. Captain Mason McTavish also got in on the action with a blistering shot on the power play for his seventh goal of the tourney.
Canada outshot the Finns 37-25.