<p>It took longer than expected, but Finland finally took home their first win of the tournament, beating Latvia 4-0 to kick off Group A play in Sweden on Friday.</p>



<p>Latvia has still yet to score a goal through three games with just the final match against Germany tomorrow to close things out. </p>



<p>The Finns will look to keep their momentum alive against Sweden on Sunday, which could result in the Finns taking as high as second place in the group after a challenging first two games against Canada and Germany. If the Latvians beat Germany, and Finland loses in regulation to Sweden, that would create a three-way tie, with goal-differential coming into play.</p>



<p>The Finnish power play had struggled before today, but they came alive with three goals. Jere Lassila, Kasper Halttunen and Oiva Keskinen all capitalized with the man advantage, while Jesse Pulkkinen scored the lone even-strength goal in the first period.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="154"></div>



<p>Finland outshot Latvia 20-3 in the first period and never looked back, finishing with a 43-23 advantage. Noa Vali stopped everything in his first world junior game for the Finns, which has to help for confidence.</p>



<p>Here’s a look at the top performers on Friday evening in Sweden: </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Finland</h2>



<p><strong>#15 Jesse Pulkkinen, D (Undrafted):</strong> Passed over in 2023, I don’t think that will happen again in 2024. The top-pairing defender has impressed scouts all week long with how confident he is rushing the puck up the ice, and he was rewarded with the 2-0 goal. He’s a good enough skater to get back into position after a rush up the ice, which was only amplified against a slower Latvian team today.</p>



<p><strong>#22 Kasper Halttunen, RW (San Jose Sharks):</strong> Halttunen had a big night for the Finns, scoring a power-play goal at 28:59 and snagging an assist on the team’s first goal. I still worry he’ll be more of a PP specialist at the NHL the way he produces, but he’s as good as anyone there, so that’s not really a bad thing.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="182"></div>



<p><strong>#28 Jere Lassila, C (Undrafted):</strong> Lassila has been one of Finland’s most consistent players through three games, and he had a goal and an assist just a minute apart in the first period. He then set up Halttunen for his power-play goal, with the two moving very well with the extra period. Lassila had a fourth assist on the power play early in the third just for good measure. He’s been a difference-maker for Finland, and he’ll need to be against Sweden.</p>



<p><strong>#20 Oiva Keskinen, C (Columbus Blue Jackets): </strong>This felt like Keskinen’s most complete effort. He was on the power play, penalty kill and scored the fourth goal. He’s very versatile and can skate decently well, too. For a seventh-rounder, the Blue Jackets might have some found gold here, and I hope to see him play a big role as the Finns keep moving forward.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="146"></div>



<p><strong>#31 Noa Vali, G (Undrafted): </strong>Vali wasn’t busy early with just three saves in the first period. But the Latvians had some good looks, especially late, and made 23 saves for the shutout. He’s a smaller goalie, but he moves well to help offset the lack of size. We’ll see if he gets another start, but he looked good when the Finns needed him to be.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-latvia">Latvia</h2>



<p><strong>#1 Deivs Rolovs, G (Undrafted)</strong>: Rolovs looked uncomfortable going down and getting back up on multiple occasions tonight, but it might be due to the over-exertion he had to deal with early. He faced 18 shots in the first period as the Finns kept rolling, and Rolovs did everything possible to keep it a tight game. They expected a difficult match against the Finns, but it’ll be interesting to see if they use hm again tomorrow against Germany in the final game of the round-robin.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="151"></div>



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