The highly anticipated showdown between Canada and Finland turnned into a letdown, as the Finns shutout the Canadians by a 4-0 count to finish opening-round play a perfect 7-0, taking the top spot in Group B in the process.
The three Florida Panthers taking part in the game, Michael Matheson, Aleksander Barkov and Jussi Jokinen, did not figure in the scoring.
Tommi Kivisto, Leo Komarov, Mika Pyorala and Jarno Koskiranta scored the goals and Mikko Koskinen stopped all 21 shots he faced. Edmonton’s Cam Talbot took the loss for Canada.
Matheson finished the game with one shot on goal and a -2 rating in 12:24 TOI.
Barkov registered two shots on net and finished the game with an even rating in 18:23 TOI.
Jokinen logged 18:16 of ice time, one shot on goal and finished with an even rating.
In other games, the Czechs edged Switzerland 5-4, Slovakia beat the U.S. 3-2 in overtime, Norway skated past Latvia 3-1, Russia took down Sweden 4-1, and Belarus whitewashed France 3-0 to avoid relegation.
The quarterfinals are now set, with all games taking place on Thursday.
Czech Republic (A1) vs USA (B4)
Finland (B1) vs Denmark (A4)
Russia (A2) vs Germany (B3)
Canada (B2) vs Sweden (A3)