Finland lose shootout after 3-3 tie with Russia

print this

The Finnish Lions' World Championship campaign is over. Finland lost to Russia in Vienna last night on a penalty shootout after the match was tied at 3-3 after full time, and with neither side able to break the deadlock in a sudden-death 10-minute overtime period.
      So the Finns fly home and Russia go on to face Canada in the semi-finals on Saturday.
     
Finland started brightly enough. Petri Pakaslahti scored the first goal after seven minutes, and around five minutes later the puck slid into the Russian net a second time, courtesy of a mix-up between goalie Maxim Sokolov and defender Denis Denisov. The powerplay goal was credited to Jukka Hentunen.
      The Russians came right back in the last quarter of the period and tied the score with two goals inside two minutes. Alexander Ovechkin got the first and Sergei Gusev scored the second while the Finns were short-handed. This left things balanced at 2-2, but the period still had some life in it, as the Finns seized on their second powerplay opportunity of the night to score through Kimmo Timonen in the final minute and reach the buzzer 3-2 to the good.
     
Whether the Finns then got complacent or simply passive is unclear, but the Russian forwards were all over them like a rash in the second period, and Niklas Bäckström in the Finnish goal was obliged to make several big saves before Pavel Datsyuk scored on a breakaway while the Russians were playing shorthanded.
      This setback at 31:04 could have opened the floodgates, but the Finns hung on to end the period on level terms.
      The third period was a good deal tighter as both teams firmed up their defences, and there was no further scoring.
      The deadlock spilled over into the regulation 10 minutes of overtime, and then it was down to penalty shots. The Russians were sharper by 3 to 2, with Alexei Yashin, Pavel Datsyuk, and Maxim Afinogenov doing the damage, while only Niklas Hagman and Niko Kapanen could find a way past Sokolov in the Russian goal.
     
The Finnish squad thus have to content themselves with 7th place. Though they did not go into this tournament with banners waving and victory assured, this is nevertheless their worst showing at the World Championships for 12 years.
      All the same, they are in reasonable company: four teams had to go out of the competition last night, and the Finns were joined by Team USA, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
      All of the quarter-final games were tight, even Sweden's encounter with the Swiss. The Swedes won 2-1, but were given an early fright as Switzerland went ahead in only the second minute of the first period. Canada edged Slovakia 5-4, and the Czech Republic, largely thanks to their goalie Tomas Vokoun, beat the United States in a penalty shootout after their match ended tied at 2-2.
      Canada will now play Russia, and the other semi-final pairing is Sweden against the Czechs.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Swedes rout Latvia and ensure Finnish place in World Championship quarter-finals (11.5.2005)

Links:
  IIHF World Championships, Austria

Helsingin Sanomat