Nashville Predators striker Mikael Granlund scored a late goal, helping Finland win their second game at the Ice Hockey World Championships

Tampere, Finland – Hosts Finland recovered from a first-half panic by defeating Latvia 2-1 to claim their second win in two matches at the Ice Hockey World Championships on Saturday.

Nashville Predators forward Michael Granlundless than a week after being eliminated at the NHL postseason again in North America, the winner scored in a solid game with 2 minutes 52 seconds to go in the final stretch of a Group B game in Tampere. Rudolphs with cherries He put Latvia ahead 1-0 in the first half, then Sakkari Maninen tied the match in a powerful net. Maninen added a crucial pass against Granlund.

Finland, last year’s runner-up, beat Norway 5-0 on Friday, while Latvia lost to the United States 4-1.

Germany rebounded from the loss to Canada the day before by beating Slovakia 2-1 in Group A in Helsinki. Matthias Blachta Leonhard Pföderl gave Germany a 2-0 advantage, as Christian Pospisil responded with the Slovakian’s only goal.

In Group B, Sweden only had three streaks available in their opening game against Austria, as the team was waiting for the NHL playoff results to complete the roster with players from the Swedish League, whose playoffs ended only on Thursday.

Joel KellmanAnd Max Freiberg And Joachim Nordstrom Both of them contributed one goal to a 3-1 victory over the team that replaced the Russian and Belarusian teams with France.

In the opening match, the Czech Republic beat Britain 5-1 in another match in Group B. Matej Blumel led the Czech Republic with two goals and one assist.

Also in group A, Joachim Bleichfeld score a hat trick and Nicholas Ehlers He had three assists for Denmark, which started the tournament with a 9-1 defeat of Kazakhstan.

Leading by three goals after the first half, with the New Jersey Devils striker Jonas Signthaler He helped achieve these three goals, leading Switzerland to a 5-2 victory over Italy in their opening match in Group A.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.