Both Devin Cooley and Matt Coronato weren’t in action, as Team USA won’t play again until Saturday. However, Zach Whitecloud’s Team Canada defeated Team Norway 6-5 in overtime, Team Finland’s Olli Määttä defeated Team Latvia by a score of 7-1, and Martin Pospíšil’s Team Slovakia defeated Team Denmark 5-1.

Let’s take a look at what happened in those three games and set up Friday’s slate of games.

Team Canada vs Team Norway

Starting with Team Canada, they defeated Team Norway 6-5 in overtime, but it wasn’t pretty. The Norwegians opened the scoring five minutes in, as Eskild Bakke Olsen scored the opening goal. Then, Johannes Johannesen scored to give Team Norway a 2-0. Thankfully, Mark Scheifele scored twice before the end of the first.

Noah Steen gave the Norwegian a 3-2 lead early in the first, but Gabriel Vilardi tied the game for Team Canada midway through the second. It took just 31 seconds into the first for the Canadians to get their first lead, but Steen scored eight minutes into the final frame, then Tinus Luc Koblar scored to give the Norwegians a 1-0 lead.

With just a minute and a half left in the game, Ryan O’Reilly beat the Norwegian netminder to tie the game at five. In overtime, Scheifele completed the hat trick to give the Canadians the victory.

As for Whitecloud, he played a little over 16 minutes, picking up a first period shot and finishing the game as a +1. He’s still looking for his first point of the tournament.

Team Finland vs Team Latvia

The Finns defeated Team Latvia by a score of 7-1, but it was actually the Latvians who opened the scoring. Just 10 seconds into the game, former NHL’er Rūdolfs Balcers beat the Finnish netminder. It was all Team Finland from there.

Hannes Björninen tied the game five minutes in, Henri Jokiharju gave the Finns the lead midway through the opening frame, then Saku Mäenalanen extended their lead to two before the end of the first.

Waltteri Merelä scored the lone goal in the second period, but just 58 seconds into the final frame, Anton Lundell scored the Finns’ fifth goal. Less than 30 seconds later, Patrik Puistola gave the Finns a 6-1 lead, then Aatu Räty scored in what was a 7-1 blowout victory.

Määttä had a quiet game, playing 18 and a half minutes and finishing as a +2 with no shots on goal. Through Team Finland’s first four games, Määttä has two assists.

Team Slovakia vs Team Denmark

Lastly, Martin Pospíšil’s Team Slovakia defeated Team Denmark by a score of 5-1. Midway through the first, Martin Chromiak opened the scoring for the Slovaks, with Pospíšil’s brother, Kristián, picking up an assist.

Just 56 seconds into the second, Adam Liška scored to give the Slovaks a 2-0 lead, then Oliver Okuliar scored about seven minutes into the second for a 3-0 lead. Team Denmark’s Mikkel Aagaard cut the lead to 3-1, but M. Pospíšil picked up his first goal of the tournament to restore the three-goal lead. Sebastian Cederle buried one with seven to play for the final score of 5-1.

M. Pospíšil played just under 18 minutes, notching four shots, tied for the most on the team alongside three others. The Flame also took 20 faceoffs, winning 12 of them (60%), finishing the game as a +1.

Other notes…

In Thursday’s other game, the hosts, Team Switzerland, defeated Team Great Britain 4-1 to be the first team to 15 points.

The Finns still hold their fate in their own hands to finish top in Group A, as they have four regulation wins in their four games, giving them 12 points. That’s not the case for the Americans, as Team USA has just five points over their first four games, with one of their two wins coming in regulation.

Over in Group B, Team Canada and Team Slovakia are deadlocked for first in the group thanks to a 3-1-0-0 record. Each team has three regulation wins and an overtime victory. Team Czechia is realistically the only other team who could end up winning the Group.

There are two Flame players in action on Friday. Team Canada plays Team Slovenia at 8:20 a.m. MT, while Team Finland plays Team Great Britain at 12:20. The other early game will be contested between Team Germany and Team Hungary, while Group B’s late game sees Team Sweden take on Team Italy in the battle of who has the better meatballs.

Team USA returns to action on Saturday, taking on Team Latvia at 4:20 a.m. MT. Brutal.

Previous World Championship recaps:

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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