Laine, Granlund Steal Spotlight in Finnish Victory

Finland's bid for their third major international gold medal in 2016 got off to a tremendous start, beating Belarus 6-2 to start the 2016 World Hockey Championships on Friday.

The first period saw Belarus take control of the game, beating out Finland with an 8-4 shot advantage after 20 minutes. The team was led by chances from Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, two former NHLers with Montreal and Nashville. However, it would be the Finns who would finish the first period with the best opportunity, with Florida Panthers prospect Alex Barkov beating out Sergei Kostitsyn on the breakaway. However, Vitali Koval stood tall in the crease, making a nice sprawling toe save on the NHLer to keep the game scoreless before the end of the first period.

Patrik Laine has proven himself to be the real deal in 2015-2016, winning the World Juniors and SM-liiga Championships among many personal awards. Playing on a line with Barkov and Jussi Jokinen, Finland would get a goal from one of the more dangerous lines in the entire tournament. After just 1:45 in the second period, Barkov and Laine made a tremendous passing paly just in front of the Belarussian net, with Laine tapping in the pass in front into an open cage and in for the 1-0 lead with most of the game still to go.

Belarus had a tendency in 2015 to play well for the first half of the game, only to struggle in the second half. That was similar to what happened on Friday, as Finland managed to wear down Belarus slightly to take the 2-0 lead after 12:28 of play in the second. This time, Mikko Koivu did a great job of sticking with the play after getting knocked down in front by Ilya Shinkevich, only to swat the puck over the line while laying down in the crease.

Belarus would eventually get a goal in the first period. Andrei Stas would make it 2-1 after beating out Laine on a breakaway, making a spiffy move on the backhand around Mikko Koskinen to end his shutout and put Belarus back within a goal.

The Laine show would continue shorlty after, however. Laine, who is expected to be chosen second overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the upcoming NHL Draft, took a slapshot on the power-play after grabbing a pass from Koivu, easily beating Koval with a shot that could have broken many bones.

Then, with four seconds left in the second, Laine's line struck again. This time, Barkov made a pass to Laine in the corner, only for him to miss the shot opportunity. He did touch the puck, however, redirecting it over to Mikael Granlund, who had no issue putting the puck in the empty cage to make it 4-1 heading into the intermission.

Belarus probably didn't expect to challenge in the game much more, but they also didn't expect Koval to allow a very weak goal either. It wasn't because of a weak effort though, as Antti Pihlström forced Sergei Kostitsyn to surrender the puck in his own zone, with Pihlström going the other way and shooting it on Koval, a shot he surely wanted back.

Finland wasn't done. At the 7:51 mark of the third period, Anssi Salmela took a wild slap shot from just inside the zone, firing it right off of Koval's mask. Koval looked hurt on the play, but Granlund took advantage of the play not being waved dead to knock in the loose puck for the 5-1 lead.

Belarus would get their second of the game to show they were still around. With nine minutes left, Andrei Kostitsyn got the puck to Belarussian hockey legend Alexei Kalyuzhny, who sent the puck past Koskinen and in for the 6-2 goal. It didn't mean much for them, however, as Finland held on for the easy victory on the first day of the tournament.

With the win, Finland will get Saturday off before their meeting with Germany at 16:15 local time, 9:15 am ET on Sunday. Meanwhile, Belarus will look to beat the Americans for the second straight year when they battle against the winless country on Saturday at 20:15 local time, 1:15 pm ET.

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