After opening the tournament with two straight losses, Latvia now has two straight wins on home ice at the 2023 IIHF World Championship following a 2-1 victory over Norway. In a game where the Latvians were dominant at times, particularly early in the second period when they built up a 2-0 lead, they nonetheless needed to hold on at the end by a single goal.
The win gives Latvia five points, good for fourth in Group B, albeit having played a game more than most of the group. Norway stays on four points, good for sixth.
“We played a good game, blocked shots, got some pucks on net,” said Latvian forward Deniss Smirnovs. “We had a lot of chances in the first but just couldn't score that first goal. When we got those two, that was big for us. After that, we stayed calm. Our goal is still to make the quarter-finals.”
“That second period lost us the game, I’d say,” said Norwegian forward Ludvig Hoff, who scored his team’s lone goal. “I thought we got too excited trying to win the puck in the offensive zone, they kinda beat our third man high and created a lot of odd-man rushes.”
The Latvian fans have made their presence known during their team’s games in Riga, and did all they could to be a factor during a first period which was, on the ice, rather uneventful. The two teams had nine shots apiece, none of them particularly dangerous, and little emotion was shown until a skirmish around Arturs Silovs’ net in the last minute.
“Both teams played pretty well,” thought Latvian captain Kaspars Daugavins. “They started pretty active and forced us to make mistakes. They were faster and more aggressive, and the second period was completely opposite. We got back into it with hard work and got the lead.”
In the second period, Latvia outshot Norway 17-1. The Latvians started to gain momentum early on when they held possession for an extended period in the Norwegian zone on a delayed penalty. They didn’t score there, but they did with three seconds left in the power play when Rudolfs Balcers dropped a pass to Rodrigo Abols, who went post and in to Henrik Haukeland’s blocker side.
Just 39 seconds later it was 2-0 when Toms Andersons converted Ronalds Kenins’ cross-ice pass before Haukeland could slide across. Arena Riga was rocking.
Latvia was unable to extend the lead during a lengthy 5-on-3 midway through the middle frame, and that gave Norway the opportunity to draw within one with 5:40 to go in the period. On what would turn out to be Norway’s only shot of the second period, Hoff scored off the rush, going far-side on a shot Silovs got a piece of.
“The thing that was good was we didn't panic after they scored,” said Daugavins. “Sometimes you can lose the game after that if you let them take the momentum, but we stuck with it and finished the period well. The third was pretty even.”
“We had a rough second period, when they took over a bit, but in the first and third we challenged them,” said Norwegian defenceman Isak Hansen. “We could have won this game.”
Still very much in the game despite the margin in play, Norway entered the third period with a renewed sense of purpose and began pushing for the equalizer. However, the Latvians played well in their own end, preventing any high-danger chances.
Norway’s comeback chances were dealt a serious blow when Andreas Martinsen was called for high-sticking with 3:11 to go, but a hooking call against Kristaps Zile 1:11 later cut the Latvian power play short. At that point, with the teams skating 4-on-4, Norway called its timeout, and Haukeland went to the bench for an extra attacker off the faceoff.
But despite playing with a two-man advantage for the last minute, the Norwegians were unable to net the equalizer.
Both teams get a bit of a rest after this game. Latvia is back in action on Friday against Slovenia, while Norway has two days off before facing Czechia on Saturday.
