Finland leads Czechia after second period in bronze medal game at World Juniors

Finland has a 5-3 lead over Czechia after the second period in the bronze medal game at the 2024 World Juniors in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Czechs went on the power play midway through the second period as Finland’s Otto Salin went off for interference. Jakub Stancl would take advantage, squeezing the puck past Finnish goaltender Niklas Kokko through the five hole to tie the game 2-2.

However, Finland would quickly take control back. Konsta Helenius, a top prospect for the 2024 NHL Draft, took a pass from Jani Nyman and beat Czech goaltender Jakub Vondras to give the Finns a 3-2 lead.

Nineteen seconds later, Kasper Kulonummi would find a wide open Lenni Hameenaho, who beat Vondras on the blocker side to double Finland’s lead to 4-2.

Finland would get their second power play of the game late in the period as Stancl was whistled for an illegal stick and Hameenaho scored his second goal of the game as he made a nice move to walk in and beat Vondras for Finland's fifth goal of the game.

With just over two minutes to go in the second, Matyas Sapovaliv got a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head on Kasper Halttunen. However, Ondrej Becher got a breakaway shorthanded on a pass from Stnacl and scored to pull the Czechs back within two. The Czechs would go on to kill off the penalty to end the period.