Lions gain pace beating France by 5-3

Defending world champion Finland returned to their own style after beating France by five goals to three in the Ice Hockey World Championship 2023 at Nokia Arena in Tampere late Wednesday night.

The Lions initially created frustration among the fans following defeats against USA and Sweden and only one victory against Germany in the previous matches but the victory against France in the tough competitive match brought them back to the race for the title.

Although Florian Chakiachvili scored at the second minute and took lead for France at the very beginning of the match, Harri Pesonen leveled the score at the fifth minute resulting end of the first period 1-1.

Ahti Oksanen scored at the fourth minute of second period for the Finns but failed to uphold the lead for long as Justin Addamo leveled the score 2-2 within a span of five minutes.

After three minutes captain Marko Anttila scored a magnificent goal to take the team ahead and another goal by Teemu Hartikainen in the third period widen the gap 4-2.

France players, who were fighting neck and neck in whole the match tried to come back and Charles Bertrand reduced the gap 4-3 at the 50^th minute. As they tried to level the score with more strength keeping the goalkeeper out at the 59^th minute, Sakari Manninen scored empty net and ensured the 5-3 victory for the Lions.