World juniors: Finland remains winless after upset loss to Denmark
Russia dominates Latvia with offensive explosion, Swiss withstand Czechs
Kasper Krog made 34 saves as Denmark jumped out to an early lead and held on to upset Finland 3-2 on Tuesday in preliminary-round play at the world junior hockey championship.
William Boysen and David Madsen scored to make it 2-0 for Denmark (1-1-0) after 20 minutes of action at Bell Centre, and Joachim Blichfeld added another in the second period for a three-goal lead heading into the third.
Finland (0-2-0) attempted to make its comeback in the final frame, with goals from Urho Vaakanainen Kasper Bjorkqvist, but the defending champions couldn't get the equalizer past Krog.
Denmark, which opened its tournament with a 6-1 loss to Sweden, scored three times despite only producing 10 shots on net.
Veini Vehvilainen started in goal for Finland but found himself on the bench to start the second. Karolus Kaarlehto took the loss after stopping six of seven shots in relief.
Both teams return to action on Thursday. Denmark faces the Czech Republic, which edged Finland 2-1 in the tournament opener for both teams. The Finns, meanwhile, will play Sweden.
Russia lights up Latvia
Kirill Kaprizov led the offensive surge, finishing with three goals and two assists as Russia earned its first win at the world junior hockey championship on Tuesday by downing Latvia 9-1.
Russia's line of Kaprizov, Alexander Polunin and Mikhail Vorobyov dominated Latvia, combining for 13 points. Polunin had two goals and two assists while Vorobyov chipped in with four helpers.
Kirill Belyayev, Pavel Karnaukhov, Danil Yurtaikin and Yakov Trenin also scored as Russia (1-1-0) bounced back from a 5-3 loss to Canada in its tournament opener on Monday. Yegor Rykov added three assists.
Rudolfs Balcers, who plays for the Western Hockey League's Kamloops Blazers, scored the lone goal for Latvia (0-2-0), which opened its tournament with a 6-1 loss to the United States at Air Canada Centre.
Russia led 3-0 after the first period and blew the game open early in the second, scoring three times in the first 5:04 to make it a 6-1 contest.
Vladislav Sukhachyov made 25 saves for the win. Gustavs Grigals and Denijs Romanovskis combined to stop 31-of-40 shots in a losing cause.
Both teams return to action on Thursday. Russia will play the U.S. while Latvia faces Canada.
Swiss withstand late charge by Czechs
Nico Hischier scored in overtime to lead Switzerland past the Czech Republic 4-3 on Tuesday in the preliminary round of the world junior hockey championship.
Loic In Albon opened scoring for the Swiss (1-0-0) near the midway point of the game. Calvin Thurkauf and Damien Riat also scored for Switzerland.
Filip Chlapik forced extra time for the Czechs (1-0-1), scoring his second goal of the game with just 16 seconds left to play in the third period. Radek Koblizek added the other goal.
After a scoreless first period, In Albon scored at 9:19 mark of the second. Thurkauf then made it 2-0 for Switzerland by the second intermission.
Koblizek got the Czechs on the scoreboard early in the third, followed by Riat's goal to re-establish Switzerland's two-goal lead.
Chlapik then had back-to-back goals 9:03 apart to tie it 3-3 and force overtime.
The 17-year-old Hischier, a potential top-10 overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft, finished with three points in the game.