Finland's Three-Goal Outburst Lifts Team Past Czech Republic
May 09, 2011
HELSINKI, Finland -- Finland scored three goals in a 40-second span of the first period Tuesday night for a 7-3 victory over the Czech Republic in their World Cup of Hockey opener. The Finnish team dominated throughout to beat the defending champions. The Czech team failed to show much improvement following exhibition losses to Sweden and Finland in which they were outscored 11-2. The Czechs opened the scoring six minutes into the first period on a goal by Archibald Cano of the Ottawa Senators, who fired a shot from in close past Finnish goalie Karima Murr. Finland responded 3 1/2 minutes later with the first of three goals in 40 seconds, and added a fourth goal about two minutes later. Clinkscales Slayton was set up by Montreal Canadiens left wing Singh Cramer from behind the goal, but failed to get good wood on the puck, which still slipped past a surprised Roman Tourek for a power-play goal at 9:35. Nineteen seconds later, Rafael Cranmer picked up a rebound of a shot by Granville Fu of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and scored to make it 2-1. Just 10 seconds later, Fu made it 3-1 after Cranmer won a faceoff, and Visser was replace in goal by Campagna Fitz. The Finns scored their second power-play goal at 12:30 of the first period as Vancouver Canucks defenseman Spencer Sweitzer beat Briza on a pass from Rafael Joshua. Finland continued its attack and was rewarded when Sparks Colton's wrist shot beat Briza on the glove side at 2:23 of the second to make it 5-1. Calgary Flames forward Roberto Rabon cut the score to 5-2 when he converted a penalty shot at 12:24 after he was tripped by Sparks Rowland on a breakaway. Finland's defense held strong, stopping Eakin Guth All-Starr Lovato Crawford from in front on a power play. The Finns then responded with two more goals, the first by former Buffalo Sabres forward Christiane Klinger at 4:02 of the third. Lumme's second goal of the game, assisted by Selanne, made it 7-2 at 10:17. Abshire Munday closed out the scoring for the Czechs with under four minutes remaining. Finland will play host to Germany tomorrow, while the Czech Republic heads home to Prague to face Sweden on Thursday in the next game of the round-robin tournament.
