It was all Finland in their matchup against Latvia. A 4-0 statement win to secure their first victory of the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC). Finland went in the favourites to beat Latvia, and they did just that. They dominated all three zones and controlled possession of the puck for the majority of the game. The Finnish squad ran into Latvian goaltender Deivs Rolovs, who stopped 40 of the 44 shots that he faced. If it wasn’t for Latvia’s goaltender, Finland would’ve run away with the game in double digits.
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Noa Vali stayed perfect in the net as he stopped all 23 shots he faced, earning him a shutout. Niklas Kokko, Finland’s started heading into the WJC, will have likely lost the net to Vali after the game versus Latvia. Finnish Captain Jere Lassila had a similarly dominant performance, as he recorded one goal and four points. His goal came 14:15 into the first period with a power-play goal after Latvian forward Toms Mots received a double minor for high-sticking.
The back-and-forth action between both teams created an interesting third period, especially near the end of the period when Jesse Pulkkinen and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki both got called for penalties. Two players rarely get called for different penalties and go off at the same time. Latvia had a 5-on-3 power play for an entire two minutes, they scored with eight seconds left, but the goal was overturned for high-sticking. Latvia has been shut out across three games in this year’s tournament. They will look to change this when they play Germany on Saturday, Dec. 30.
Rolovs Kept Latvia’s Goals Against Low
Rolovs made some big saves at critical points in the game. He played a big part in keeping the score so low against Finland. Latvia finished the first period being outshot 20-3, as they were only losing 2-0 at that point. While the team put together some awful play in front of him, he was Latvia’s story of the game.
Finland pelted Rolovs with 19 high-danger scoring chances throughout the game, they poured on the offence but were ultimately denied by a red-hot goaltender. His .900 save percentage (SV%) was far above expectations going into the game. Finland is coming off two disappointing losses to Canada and Germany, it was certain that they would bounce back against Latvia, but the score was expected to be closer to double digits.
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