Canada snatch victory from Finland in Ice Hockey WC

Finland conceded another defeat in the Ice Hockey World Championship 2024 as they lost to Canada by five goals to three in Prague on Saturday.

Although the Lions took lead with two early goals in the first period dominating over the Canadians from the very beginning of the match, Canada came back to the game and leveled the score from the behind twice and finally snatched the victory when Brandon Hagel sent the puck to Finnish net with 8:28 minutes left.

Jesse Puljujarvi scored at the second minute of the game to take 1-0 lead for Finland while Valtteri Puustinen widened the gap to 2-0 at the fourth minute.

Canada tried to come back after few minutes and Dylan Cozens reduced the gap at the 15^th minute and Brandon Tanev leveled the score within a span of less than two minutes.

The Lions took lead again when Jesse Puljujarvi scored his second goal and third for the team at the 37^th minute of the second period but Owen Power leveled the score again just after one minute.

Both the teams created pressure on each other and also got several chances, but the second period was ended 3-3.

Later the winning goal came from Hagel in the third period at the 52^nd minute.

When the Finns were trying to level the score and started to play with empty net Dawson Mercer suddenly got a chance and easily sent the puck to the goalkeeper sans goal post just 20 seconds before the end to ensure the victory for Canada.

Finland will face Denmark on Monday in their next group match.

Earlier, the Lions beat Norway by 4-1 and Great Britain by 8-0 and lost to Czech Republic on tiebreaker and 2-3 to Austria in their group matches.