Switzerland defeated Kazakhstan 3-1 to sign its first victory at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Tuesday and thus avoid the relegation match.
Robin Antenen scored the winning goal at 17:18 of the second period. Simon Meier and Ludvig Johnson also hit the target. Christian Kirsch only had to save 11 shots to win.
Switzerland will face Canada or the United States, who will face each other on Tuesday evening.
Kirill Lyapunov was the only scorer for Kazakhstan, who will face Germany on Thursday with a ticket to next year’s World Juniors at stake. The losers will move to division 1.
Vladimir Nikitin was tested 35 times in the defeat.
Finland whitewashes Latvia
Benjamin Rautiainen scored a goal and added an assist while goaltender Petteri Rimpenen stopped all 28 shots in Finland’s 3-0 win over Latvia.
With this gain, Finland was assured of placing at least third in Group A. It could climb to second place depending on the result of the last duel of the day, between Canada and the United States.
Jesse Kiiskinen and Kasper Halttunen scored the other goals for the winners.
Finland completes the preliminary phase with eight points, while Canada and the United States totaled seven before their confrontation.
Latvia, who were one point behind Finland in the standings before the start of the match, will finish in fourth place in Group A.
In the quarter-finals on Thursday, the Latvians will battle the winner of the match between Czechia and Sweden, also played on Tuesday.
Canada
