One point enough for Finland

Almost all fans had left Malmö Arena after the Sweden-Russia game, but a little more than 700 were still there to see a close game. Finland needed at least one point to secure the second spot of Group B. And that is exactly what they got. Switzerland had no chance of avoiding the fourth place unless they beat Finland by five goals or more.

The shootout saw eleven failed attempts before Switzerland's Claude Paschoud finally could get it in.

"We have to be better defensively to win the game against Canada", says Swiss forward Vincent Proplan. "It was good for our confidence to win".

Switzerland had a two-goal lead after half the game but Finland came back and tied it early in the third period.

You could see on both teams that this was no very important game. Finland's Joni Nikko was the first to find the net, but it was only on the outside. A minute later Ville Leskinen did the same.

The first power-play of the game was Finnish and they got one big chance. Ville Pokka got the puck at the far post and the opportunity set up by captain Teuvo Teräväinen deserved a better fate.

In the middle of the period Finnish goalie Ville Husso got some trouble. And it was his own fault. He passed the puck to a Swiss player behind the net, but luckily for Husso it came to nothing.

At eleven minutes Ville Leskinen set up Topi Nättinen on a Finnish break-away but Nättinen's shot hit the post.

All of a sudden after a Swiss player fell on the own blue-line and three Finnish players were alone with one defender and Melvin Nyffeler. Nyffeler made a key save to keep the Finns at nothing.

Switzerland opened the scoring when Flavio Schmutz took a shot from the top of the left circle. It didn't look very dangerous, but Husso allowed it.

Just after the goal Finland got a power-play and with a hard one-timer Henrik Haapala tied it just 26 seconds prior to the first intermission.

Finland got another power-play early in the second and Mikko Vainonen had a terrific chance to score but shot wide of the net.

On a strange sequence in front of the Finnish net Fabrice Herzog somehow managed to get the puck into the net though he was lying on the ice with two Finnish players over him. And that wasn't enough. Switzerland would also get the 3-1 goal a few minutes later. On a rebound Nico Dunner took a low shot close to the near post for his first goal of the championship.

That was it for Ville Husso. He was replaced as Juuse Saros entered the ice.

Finland recovered quickly and scored its second goal less than a minute later. Henri Ikonen in the left corner passed the puck to Aleksi Mustonen who sent it into the net.

It didn't take more than 35 seconds of the third period for Finland to tie it at three. A shot from the blue-line was tipped in from Mäenalanen's stick high in the air. The referee's needed to take help from a video review before they could rule it a goal.

Switzerland got the chance to take back the lead when they got an extended two-man advantage, but they couldn't get any big scoring chances.

Seven minutes before the end Finland got another man advantage after Kevin Fiala had tripped a Finnish player in the neutral zone. The Swiss team managed to kill it, but a few seconds later they got another penalty when Anthony Rouiller tripped another Finnish player behind Nyffeler's net.

Finland scored a disallowed goal 3:17 before the end. Henrik Ikonen was lying in the crease when he scored and the referee waved it off.

In the over-time period there wasn't much at stake since the final standings would be the same no matter who won the game. Switzerland had three shots on goal and Finland two, but none of them was close to a goal.

The shootout saw many poor attempts before Claude Paschoud decided the game with a nice move.

Switzerland will get a difficult quarter final against Canada.

"Games against Canada are always beautiful because it is the home land of hockey", says Marco Müller. "I think if we play a good game we can also beat the Canadians".

Finland gets to play Czech Republic: "They have a lot of skill. Skate hard", says Finland's Ville Pokka about the upcoming opponent. "We have to improve our game".

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