Thursday January 15, 2026

Finland lose in shootout as Kazakhs make history

Published : 23 May 2021, 19:59

Updated : 24 May 2021, 18:49

DF Report

Finland's forward Jere Karjalainen (L) vies with Kazakhstan's defenseman Jesse Blacker during the Group B match between Kazakhstan and Finland at the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Riga, Latvia, May 23, 2021. Photo: Xinhua.

Defending champion Finland lost to Kazakhstan in penalty shootout by 1 goals to 2 in the Ice Hockey World Championship 2021 at Arena Riga in Latvia on Sunday.

It was the first ever win for the Kazakhstan against Finland in the history of the World Championship.

The match was 1-1 draw in the regular time.

The second period goal by Anton Lundell took lead for Finland at the 33^rd minutes but Kirill Panyukov of Kazakhstan equalised the score just within about three minutes. The first period was goalless draw. The third period and the extra time play were also ended without any goal.

In overtime, the Finns dominated the game but failed to bring any fruitful result for the team.

Curtis Valk, Nikita Mikhailis and Roman Starchenko scored for the Kazakhstan in the shootout while Oliwer Kaski scored for Finland.

Finland will meet Norway and Kazakhstan will play with Germany on Tuesday.