GDT: Finland (4) vs. Latvia (1) • Relegation Round • Jan. 3 • Latvia relegated

[Woodhouse]

Relegation Round:

Latvia vs.

Finland
Jan. 3 • 17:30 ET • 23:30 CET
Bell Centre — Montreal, Que.
TV: —

Projected lineups will be added after they are published here.

Latvia

14 Roberts Baranovskis - 12 Erlends Klavins - 10 Martins Dzierkals
11 Renars Krastenbergs - 22 Filips Buncis - 21 Rudolfs Balcers
17 Roberts Blugers - 6 Eduards Tralmaks - 16 Valters Apfelbaums
18 Ricards Bernhards - 24 Deniss Smirnovs - 9 Rihards Puide

3 Eduards Jansons - 8 Kristaps Zile
7 Maksims Ponomarenko - 23 Karlis Cukste
4 Gvido Jansons - 5 Kristians Rubins
15 Tomass Zeile - 26 Rimants Zelis

30 Mareks Mitens
29 Gustavs Grigals

Finland

34 Kristian Vesalainen - 32 Aapeli Rasanen - 33 Eeli Tolvanen
21 Joona Luoto - 25 Julius Nattinen - 35 Otto Koivula
10 Kasper Bjorkqvist - 13 Henrik Borgstrom - 9 Janne Kuokkanen
22 Arttu Ruotsalainen - 20 Julius Mattila - 27 Teemu Vayrynen
15 Petrus Palmu

7 Olli Juolevi - 2 Miro Heiskanen
12 Juuso Valimaki - 18 Vili Saarijarvi
28 Jesper Mattila - 3 Urho Vaakanainen
6 Juho Rautanen

31 Veini Vehvilainen
30 Karolus Kaarlehto


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[Woodhouse]

Finland leads the best-of-three relegation round, one game to none.

 

[hirawl]

Ok time to make top euro off this disaster. Double digits for Finland and Latvia zip. All in.

 

[GX]

Ok time to make top euro off this disaster. Double digits for Finland and Latvia zip. All in.

Have you seen Finland at this tournament? Like, at all?

 

[llwyd]

Have you seen Finland at this tournament? Like, at all?

Good question. I guess the shots will be like 50-15 and Finland will win by 1-0 (own goal by the Latvians)...

 

[BusQuets]

Have you seen Finland at this tournament? Like, at all?

He's not, no one has. He's obviously hoping that team Finland comes to play the first time in this tournament.

 

[llwyd]

He's not, no one has. He's obviously hoping that team Finland comes to play the first time in this tournament.

I thought I saw a glimpse of Finland in the first period against Sweden, but it was just a mirage...

 

[Ainec]

they should just have 1 game

 

[hirawl]

Have you seen Finland at this tournament? Like, at all?

Sure. I just think the flood gates might open now that Latvia needs to try to create offense. I also think because of the Fin tourney so far, I might get nice odds.

Nothing more to it.

 

[GX]

Sure. I just think the flood gates might open now that Latvia needs to try to create offense. I also think because of the Fin tourney so far, I might get nice odds.

Nothing more to it.

Latvia has been trying to create offense all tournament long. We've had ~25 SOG in each game. 1 up to 2 goals per game is all we can do at this level, unfortunately..

I doubt we'll see more desperate attempts at creating offense tonight.

 

[aonb]

Last game Tolvanen looks good out there and his shot is really something else at this point of career. He could easily end up with pair of goals but only picked up assist.

Imo nice performance by Borgstrom as well. He hit the post and worked hard. Is he any good overall/this turnament?

 

[FinPanda]

Hoping this won't be a close game.. Maybe they score more than 2 goals.. we'll see..

 

[QnebO]

Have you seen Finland at this tournament? Like, at all?

This guy ain't even being homer here. We're pretty bad, no way double digits..

But if Tolvanens snakebit is finally healed, we could have like 4-5 goals.

 

[Statsy]

This guy ain't even being homer here. We're pretty bad, no way double digits..

But if Tolvanens snakebit is finally healed, we could have like 4-5 goals.

This just reminded me of Puljujarvi's first WJC. He lead the entire tournament in shots on goal... and ended with a grand total of zero points. Now THAT was snakebitten!

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Sure. I just think the flood gates might open now that Latvia needs to try to create offense. I also think because of the Fin tourney so far, I might get nice odds.

Nothing more to it.

Not sure I agree with double digits, but I could see 5 or 6. Finns are due big time, shooting at like 4% for the tournament.

 

[hirawl]

Latvia has been trying to create offense all tournament long. We've had ~25 SOG in each game. 1 up to 2 goals per game is all we can do at this level, unfortunately..

I doubt we'll see more desperate attempts at creating offense tonight.

If Latvia is not going to go for the win why bother to show up at all? Which in a way speaks for my bet again.

Also I'm not really predicting anything, I'm just trying to find nice odds.

 

[GX]

If Latvia is not going to go for the win why bother to show up at all? Which in a way speaks for my bet again.

Playing the game Latvia played yesterday, it might as well be enough for a win. That is how they should go for the win. In my eyes desperately seeking a goal would be a strategy to which we could apply 'why bother to show up at all'.

I seriously doubt that Latvians should (will) change their game as long as they don't have a two goal deficit during the first half of the game.

The ugly truth is - our bottom 6 won't score a goal, no matter what they do. So, if the 3rd/4th line tries to desperately get a goal, all they can achieve is let in a goal in the opposite end. Top 6 is already creating decent chances and offensive pressure, especially against Finland.

 

[sabalen]

Easy for Finland)

 

[Loffer]

Easy for Finland)

A stroll in a park. 7-1.

 

[BB88]

This guy ain't even being homer here. We're pretty bad, no way double digits..

But if Tolvanens snakebit is finally healed, we could have like 4-5 goals.

Tolvanen hasn't been that great.

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

This just reminded me of Puljujarvi's first WJC. He lead the entire tournament in shots on goal... and ended with a grand total of zero points. Now THAT was snakebitten!

It ain't a game of who gets the puck on the net the most. You are allowed to contribute when it is decided whether a goal is scored.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Like most relagation games, the favourite usually pulls away in the second game.

 

[QnebO]

Tolvanen hasn't been that great.

He has. Only posts keeping him off sheet. Vesalainen has been carbage, tolvanen has almost met hid expectations

 

[FiLe]

It's hard to say if the Young Lions' performance in part one was due to an attitude problem, which led to half-backsided effort, or whether they just are that bad.

But if it was due to the former, it is fair to assume that that previous game knocked those thoughts off their heads. They should now know that they can't just coast to an easy win. And that would promise far harder time for Latvia.

Though, as we've seen, scoring is still notoriously hard for this group even when they do come out and play...


And, despite Finland's struggles, our guys did clinch that win. This is a must-win game for Latvia, but (at least technically) not one for Finland. While the only expectation here for Finland is to kill the series right here and now, they know they still got another shot if they somehow bungle it up. Here's hoping that fact will loosen them up a little, leading to a less constrained performance.

 

[llwyd]

or whether they just are that bad.

Nope.