Germany upsets Finland for 1st time at WJHC
Germany held on in the third period to beat Finland 4-3 at the World Junior Championship on Wednesday.
The victory is Germany's first-ever win against Finland at the under-20 tournament. The Germans were previously 0-25 against the Finns.
"It's so big," German forward Luca Hauf told TSN's Mark Masters postgame. "I can't describe it. No one believed in us before that game and we proved everybody wrong. It's such a great feeling."
Finland had a 3-2 advantage midway through the contest before Roman Kechter and Veit Oswald scored within a span of 1:31 to tie and then take the lead.
The Germans survived a Finland power play with under two minutes left in regulation to secure the win.
Germany has three NHL-drafted players on its roster. There are 13 on Finland, plus a projected 2024 top-10 pick in Konsta Helenius.
The game was Germany's first of the tournament. Finland lost 5-2 against Canada in its opener on Tuesday.
Germany's Philipp Dietl made 40 saves on 43 shots and was perfect on the final 33 attempts he faced. Finland's Niklas Kokko stopped 24 of 28 shots.