Lions score victory against France in Ice Hockey WC

One goal in each period brought a 3-0 victory for Finland against France in the Ice Hockey World Championship at the Steel Arena in Slovakia late Sunday night.

Joel Kiviranta, Niko Mikkola and Jere Sallinen scored one goal each, which took the Lions to the top of the point table of group A again.

Although the Finns dominated the match, France also got some good opportunities to score but failed to use them.

If the top position of the Finns is upheld at the end round robin on Tuesday against Germany, the Finns will get the opportunity to face the fourth team of group B in the quarter-finals matchups.

The France need to win in its last match against Great Britain on Monday to avoid relegation. At the same time, the Great Britain also need to win to secure seventh place in the group. If They win, they will stay and send the French to Division I Group A for 2020.

“It’s difficult to score when teams defend well and goalies play well,” reported IIHF quoting Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen as saying, adding, “but we were playing for the win, and we knew if we were patient, we’d get some chances. Maybe we could have capitalized on our chances a bit better, but 3-0 is a good result.”