Immonen nets two, Finland beats Norway
Posted May 12, 2011 3:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Jarkko Immonen scored twice as Finland beat Norway 4-1 on Thursday to advance to the semifinals at the world hockey championship.
Finland will face Canada or Russia, who meet in another quarter-final later Thursday.
“I don’t think it matters for us (who we play),” Finland captain Mikko Koivu said. “We have to stay strong as a team, do the things that we do good, trying to do things that we can do better a little bit better again, and move forward.”
Ken Andre Olimb gave the underdog Norwegians a surprising lead by converting a penalty shot 3:56 into the second.
But Immonen tied it on a slapshot just two minutes later before Tuomo Ruutu put the Finns ahead for good. Immonen added his second with another slapshot before Jani Lajunen completed the scoring.
Immonen is the top scorer in the tournament with seven goals, one more than Ruutu.
“We have to be ready from the start,” Immonen said.
Finland’s first three goals all came on the power play.
“Our goaltending was very good, penalty killing was excellent, and also our power play was very efficient,” Finland coach Jukka Jalonen said.
Finnish goalie Petri Vehanen stopped 37 shots for the victory.
“Now we have a chance to play for the medals,” Jalonen said.
Finland, the 1995 champion, last won a medal in this event in 2008 with a bronze.
Norway has never beaten Finland at the world championship.
