Latvia Win Sends Kazakhstan Down

The game didn't see much scoring, but Latvia won't complain as they were able to beat Kazakhstan by a score of 2-1 on Saturday.

With the tournament coming to a close soon, every game is important. Typically, Latvia and Kazakhstan doesn't bring in big crowds, but fans were still eager to follow the Group A points battle. Latvia, who has struggled this year more than in recent years, had just three points heading into the game on Saturday, including a point in a heartbreaking loss to Denmark on Friday. Kazakhstan sat in last in the group heading into the game, but after trailing Latvia by just a single point, all they needed to do was win the game to overcome their opposition in the standings.

It took Kazakhstan just one real scoring opportunity to find the back of the net. The team who has a win over Switzerland in overtime to start the tournament, got a goal from Nikita Ivanov after just 4:37 of play after dangling a Latvian defender and firing it past Elvis Merzlikins, a goal that will likely grace the hightlight reels on Saturday. It was Ivanov's first goal for the young forward ever at the World Hockey Championships, making his tournament debut against Switzerland.

The story of the game through the first 30 minutes was Kazakhstan's ability to actually get shots on net. In fact, their fourth shot of the game came at the half way mark of the game, a stat that wasn't going to hold over well if they planned on taking the final victory. They did, however, get a bunch of quick chances shortly after that, including a few on a power play with eight minutes left in the second frame.

Eventually, Latvia was going to be able to strike. Kaspars Daugaviņš, typically a star for Latvia, scored just his first goal of the tournament on Friday in Latvia's game against Denmark. It wasn't typical for him to be so quiet, so he picked a good time to score his second marker at the World's. Daugaviņš stole the puck in front from a Kazakh defender before ripping it past Vitali Kolesnik with a high end wrist shot, tying the game at one with five minutes left in the period.

The third period didn't see either team take many chances, but it did see Latvia score a late goal to take the lead. With five minutes left in the contest, Maris Bicevskis stole the puck from behind the net and quickly beat Kolsenik on the wrap-around, giving Latvia the important lead late. The goal was enough to give the team the win, a victory that puts them four points ahead of Kazakhstan and back into a safe zone before it's too late.

Latvia's win will put them within a point of Switzerland for fourth in Group A, tying Denmark for fifth. Kazakhstan's chances of staying at the top dvision were dashed with the loss, as the team will head back down to Division IA for 2017 after just getting promoted last year.

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