Red Wings prospects Eemil Viro and Jan Bednar faced off on Tuesday afternoon in Edmonton as Viro’s Finns battled Bednar and the Czechs.
Jan Bednar did his best to keep the Czechs in it as he stopped 28 of 31 shots, but the pesky Finns kept tying the game and tying the game, and in a 5-round shootout, the Finns won 2-1, thus yielding a 4-3 shootout win for Finland. Bednar was actually very, very solid…
And, despite getting a little banged up, Eemil Viro had a solid game as well, finishing at -1 in 17:10 played, earning no special teams or OT time.
In terms of the game’s narrative:
In the 1st period, the Czechs got on the board 6:36 in due to an odd shot by Jaroslav Chmelar that found a hole in Leevi Merilainen…
Czechia gets to the back of the net first! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/INhdjUgmFw— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 11, 2022
And on the power play, the Czechs won a deep offensive zone faceoff, Merilainen was screened by three players–two Finns (one was Viro) and a Czech–and Jiri Kulich ripped a bouncer through the traffic and in at 11:31.
Jiří Kulich (#Sabres) scores on the power-play to make it 2-0. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/WeVbKxgM7z— Czech Prospects (@CZprospects) August 11, 2022
Just before a commercial break, Jan Bednar got challenged for the first time as his defensemen flubbed the puck to Finnish scorer Aatu Raty, but Bednar made a hell of a stop…
Aatu Raty (NYI) forces a Czechia turnover on the forecheck and dekes to his backhand while in all alone in the slot, but Jan Bednar (DET) makes the stop with the left pad with 5:01 to go.— Colby Guy (@ColbyDGuy) August 11, 2022
Regrettably, off a Michal Gut penalty at 16:14, Roby Jarventie scored off a one-timer at 16:28, heeling a shot through Bednar’s blocker on a shot that was aimed for Bednar’s glove.
Roby Jarventie scores 14 seconds into the power play! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/i6fLumfIFU— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 11, 2022
The Finns basically held on for the balance of the 1st period, struggling to contain the Czechs’ offense, but Viro was smart, sharp and spare in getting under the puck on one one-on-one battle, Merilainen was quite good in the net, and the Finns kept the deficit to one goal and push themselves, with Bednar having to make a couple of strong stops along at the very end of the period.
Bednar stopped 7 of 8 shots in the 1st, and the Czechs took 12 on Merilainen.
In the 2nd period, the Finns really came out firing on all cylinders, but they didn’t get a lot of traffic in front of Bednar, so the Acadie-Bathurst Titan netminder made three sharp saves…
Until Kasper Puutio ripped a one-timer through Bednar at 3:38 of the 2nd period.
It’s a good goal and Finland goes on the power play for the failed challenge.
Not the fanciest assist for Joni Jurmo but it still counts. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/JVPGMzGzQY— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) August 11, 2022
Bednar was screened and his stick was tapped by Finnish forward Joel Maatta, but Maatta was pushed into the crease, so the goal stood and the Czechs had to kill a penalty for delay of game.
Czechia found some snarl as the Finns lurked and menaced on the power play, and Bednar had to make a couple more sharp saves–and he thanked the crossbar for a little help along the way–as the Czechs killed the penalty.
Viro doesn’t play on the power play, so the Finnish PP didn’t help his ice time, and when he finally returned to the ice 6:30 into the 2nd, he had a bit of a rough shift in his own zone before clearing the puck out of trouble as the Czechs attempted to malign him.
As the 2nd period progressed, Bednar got better, stopping a tipped shot as the Finns tied the shots at 15-15, and raced ahead 17-16 by the 12-minute mark.
The Finns’ problem was that they weren’t quite engaged enough in north-south hockey or a really sustained net-front presence, so Bednar didn’t face an inordinate amount of shots in the 2nd period, nor did he have to work through much traffic to see what he was stopping.
He stopped 9 of 10 shots in the 2nd period.
The 3rd period began with pretty even play on both sides, and just more solid play from Viro, who’s no 1st pair defenseman, but is superbly solid in putting in his work despite being only 6′ and 165 pounds. At least among his peers, he’s able to use that short stick to jab pucks away from opponents, and his body positioning to get the better of most 1-on-1 battles. There’s still a good amount of room for improvement for him, but he has already played two years of pro hockey in the Liiga at 20 years of age.
The Finns didn’t get their first shot in on Bednar until almost 3:30 into the 3rd, with Bednar stopping a centering pass with his stick, and the Czechs were pretty happy to play “stalemate” as well.
When the Finns took a penalty at 5:03, Viro got smeared by a Czech forward, rolled on the ice and headed to the bench in obvious discomfort.
The Finns also headed to the power play 8:1 into the 3rd, and Bednar made a couple of really solid stops…
But, at 10:24, his luck ran out as Attu Ratty got a gorgeous back-door, net-front pass from Roni Hirvonen, and bang bang, it was 3-2 Czechia as Raty fired a shot right under Bednar’s blocker and right over Bednar’s pad.
Aatu Raty breaks the tie in the 3rd! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/BkFNyTuqmB— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 11, 2022
Viro, who doesn’t play on the power play, emerged from the Finnish bench just long enough to chase a Czech below the goal line. That Czech player chipped the puck out front to Jan Mysak, who swept the puck under Merilainen to tie the game 3-3 at 12:38.
Czechia answers and ties up the game with 7 minutes to go! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/eGcHrYlqLy— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 11, 2022
Raty drew a power play with 6:35 remaining in regulation, however, and and the Finns were “too fine” again, forcing Bednar to make only 2 stops.
Regulation wound down and both teams headed to overtime tied 3-3. Bednar stopped 25 of 28 shots over the course of 60 minutes of regulation time.
This cool hit did happen, though:
Jaroslav Chmelař’s hit on Kasper Puutio. #NYR #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/03sycM3niE— Czech Prospects (@CZprospects) August 11, 2022
In overtime, Bednar made a couple of big stops in tight as the Finns buzzed the Czechs early in OT, and the Finns also at least looked threatening late in OT, but overtime solved nothing (and Viro didn’t skate in OT), so:
In the shootout:
Bednar stopped Roni Hirvonen;
Kulich missed the net for the Czechs;
Jaravente skated in and found the 5-hole…
Gut put the puck off the post behind Merilainen;
Raty was booted away by Bednar;
Chmelar fired the puck into Merilainen;
Kemell deked and dangled in but missed the top of the net…
Jan Mysak slithered a shot through Merilainen on the Czechs’ 4th attempt to tie it at 1…
But Simontaival deked Bednar out of his goalie pants, making it 2-1 Finland…
FInland @leijonat is unbeaten through two games at the 2022 #WorldJuniors, edging Czechia 4-3 thanks to a shootout goal from Kasper Simontaival. pic.twitter.com/y0WCSdEqwJ— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 11, 2022
And Sapovaliv missed the net.
Finland won 4-3 in a shootout.
Update: Here are the game’s highlights:
