Finland moved into first place in Group B with its third win in a row, this over Norway to the tune of 7-0. The win was impressive for its total dominance of possession and relentless puck pursuit. Finland now has 23 goals in three games, tops among all 16 teams in Denmark so far.

Norway now has an overtime win and loss, and after tonight a regulation loss. Its three points keeps it in fifth place in the group.

Harri Sateri got the easy shutout for Finland, stopping only eight harmless shots.

"We managed to keep the focus today on the moment and just play our game," said
Janne Pesonen. "We just want to keep going. We don't worry about the opponent or how they're playing; that's not our job."

"They moved the puck well and were better in all phases of the game," said defenceman Daniel Sorvik. "We weren't good enough in front of our net, and weren't good enough in front of their net. We let our goalie down. We have to step up our defensive game, or else we're in big trouble."

Suomi opened the scoring on another fine combination between the tournament's top two scorers. Sebastian Aho fed Veli-Matti Savinainen with a perfect pass down the left side off the rush, and Savinainen drilled a shot over the glove of Lars Haugen at 4:03 to get things started.

That was Aho's leading 11th point and Savinainen's 9th so far, leaders among all players.

Four minutes later they doubled their lead thanks to a terrible defensive blunder by Norway's Niklas Roest. Pressured behind his own goal, he came out in
front of Haugen, but Marko Anttila smacked the puck off his stick and into the net.

Two quick goals early in the second pretty much assured victory. Teuvo Teravainen's long shot went past two Norwegians and past a surprised Haugen at 1:01.

Then, at 3:41, Kasperi Kapanen came out of the corner and snapped a high shot over Haugen's glove to make it 4-0.

Two late goals in the period added to the tally Markus Nutivaara popped in a rebound during a 4-on-3, and then with 14.4 seconds left, on a delayed penalty,
captain Mikael Granlund scored from in close.

Coach Petter Thoresen inserted backup goalie Henrik Haukeland for the third and
allowed only one goal, a late marker by Saku Maenalanen.

"We have lots of ways to improve at this stage, and that's how it's supposed to
be," noted Pesonen. "There's still a lot of hockey to play. It's a long journey, but it's good to have this good feeling right away from these games and I think we can build on that."

Finland is right back at it, playing Denmark tomorrow night. Norway has a two-day break before facing another tough game in Canada on Thursday.

ANDREW PODNIEKS

http://https://www.new-iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm/news/2576/finland-dances-to-easy-victory
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