Vay Leads the Way for Hungary, but Finland Wins 3-0

Adam Vay stopped 48 shots that came his way, but Finland will improve to 4-0 after a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Hungary.

As typically seen at international events, all it takes for a smaller hockey nation is to have an incredible performance from their goalie to keep them involved in games. For Hungary, Adam Vay was there to save them from an early defeat. Vay, considered to be the third goalie for the team looking to pull off a major upset, made 14 saves in the first 20 minutes, including a save of the tournament candidate with a major stretch toe save on Jarno Koskiranta mid-way through the period. Finland continued to buzz around the net the whole time, but Vay, who plays in the MOL Liga with Debreceni HK, came up in a huge way on every single chance.

The game was still scoreless after 30 minutes of play, and Finnish fans were getting real nervous. Perhaps the Finns didn't realize that Hungary was going to put on an increased effort against them, knowing that having a chance to beat Finland would be the biggest thing to happen to their hockey program. Finland fired 24 shots towards Vay in the first period and a half, stopping every single one in what had to be the best game in his short hockey career.

Finland eventually was able to wear Hungary down, finding a way to beat the Hungarian hero in net. With just four minutes left in the second period, Atte Ohtamaa took a shot that got tipped in front by a Hungarian defender, beating Vay below the glove to make it 1-0 Finland in a game that they expected to go much differently.

At some point, the wheels were going to fall off the bus for Hungary, and that happened with 11 minutes left in the contest. On Finland's 43^rd shot of the contest, Mikael Granlund found his Minnesota Wild teammate in Mikko Koivu right in front of the net, who had no issue one-timing the puck over Vay and in for the 2-0 goal.

It took Finland six tries to finally score on the power play. On their second last chance of the game, Alex Barkov scored on a one-timer after slapping in a pass from Patrik Laine for the 3-0 goal. Finland's fans may have been disappointed before that, and while many may not believe they deserved that lead, it was good enough to hold on for the victory in a very tight game against Hungary.

Finland will look to stay with a perfect record when they play next this Saturday against France in the early game. Hungary, meanwhile, will be in tough once again when they meet up with the Americans in their next match on Friday.

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