The Finnish power play is overtaking Germany
Early on, the Finns controlled the game. Simontaival opened the scoring at 3:37 with a slick pass-and-go with Jarventie. The sprawling Bugli had no chance as the Los Angeles Kings player fired his third goal of these World Juniors into the gaping cage.
The Finns’ power play went 9-16 (56.2 percent) in the first half, including a five-goal explosion in a 9-3 win over Slovakia. It was on fire again in the quarterfinals.
Bugl stopped Kasper Puutio’s opening shot, Simontaival walked the puck across to Hirvosen, who was there for Johnny, tapping it into the goalkeeper’s left post for a 2-0 lead at 11:06. It was also his third goal at the 2022 World Cup.
“We focused on getting off to a good start because it was an early game,” Jarventie said. “We wanted to be ready to go, and we were. We focused on puck control. We were smart with the puck and didn’t turn it over.”
After the first halfway mark, Merilainen knocked out Joshua Samanski – whose end-to-end rushing goal in the opener against the USA was perhaps the best of the tournament – with back-to-back stops.
Finland’s penalty kill has been the Achilles’ heel in Edmonton, which operates with a tournament-worst 50 percent heading into the quarterfinals. The story didn’t change when the Germans cut the deficit to 2-1 on their first power play at 12:50 p.m.
In the third game in a row, Rossmy scored his team’s first goal and knocked the puck away from the threshold. The top 19-year-old World Junior rookie also captured the DEL title with Eisbaren Berlin last season.
Finland wasted little time in replying. During Finland’s second man advantage, Bugl robbed Simontaival from the slot with a slick glove grab. But he couldn’t stop Jarventie from making it 3-1 with a killer wrister from the right faceoff circle at 14:48.
In the second period, Finland’s pace lulled significantly. Although defender Maximilian Glotzl was out after tripping, the Germans kept their opponents untriggered well into the half. Captain Luca Munzenberger added physical bite, beating Hirvonen in the open ice in the defensive zone and forcing Simontaival into Bugli’s right post.
The Germans made it 3-2 with Rossmy’s beautiful power play goal at 17:21. From the top of the right starting circle, Haakon Hanelt found Rossmy Merilainen’s raid, and he turned the backhander past the Finnish goalkeeper for the fourth goal of the tournament. The move would have made Sidney Crosby or Leon Draisaitl proud.
“We’ve been in the same situation before, so we weren’t fazed by it,” Jarventie said. “We don’t want to give them anything, but they played a good game and gave us a hard fight. We just reset and refocused and got ready for the next inning.”
The Finns got a break early in the third period when Rossmy received a delay of game after turning the puck over the glass in Germany’s territory. But they faked it without any meaningful threats.
However, Germany was unable to contain the Finnish power play after Yanick Proske’s hook. Another Jarventie laser turned out to be the comeback breaker, making it 4-2 at 6:22.
With 4:07 left in the game, Jarventie found Maata’s man in front, and he deftly turned to beat Bugli with a handstand to make it 5-2. Auf Wiedersehen, Germany.
“We knew they had a good power play, so we tried to stay out of the box, but it’s tough,” Rossmy said. – They were very good and used their opportunities in the best possible way.
Germany has never beaten Finland in this tournament since the 1977 World Juniors and including the West German era. This was Finland’s 24th consecutive victory.
Germany’s first-ever U20 medal will have to wait until the 2023 World Juniors, which begin in Halifax and Moncton in December.