Innsbruck, Austria – Ville Peltonen and Kimmo Timonen scored 3:25 apart in the second period to lift undefeated Finland into the second round of the world hockey championships with a 4-1 victory Monday over winless Ukraine.
Finland (2-0) is atop Group C with rival Sweden (2-0), which beat Denmark 7-0 and clinched a second-round berth.
Finland and Sweden will meet Wednesday in the final preliminary-round game.
In a Group A game in Vienna, Viktor Kozlov of the New Jersey Devils scored with 2:21 left to rally Russia into a 3-3 tie with Slovakia.
Slovakia (1-0-1) took a 3-2 lead on Lubomir Visnovsky’s power-play goal 1:27 into the third period, but Russia (1-0-1) earned a key standings point. Slovakia also squandered a 2-0 lead that was built on goals by Los Angeles’ Ziggy Palffy and Marian Hossa of the Ottawa Senators.
Mikhail Grabovsky scored four goals for Belarus (1-1) in a 5-0 victory over Austria in the late Group A game in Vienna. Based on a tiebreaker, Austria (0-2) was knocked into the relegation round for the first time since 2000.
Russia and Slovakia lead Group A with three points each.
The United States, which routed Slovenia 7-0 on Sunday, will return to the ice today against Latvia (0-1). Canada also will try to improve to 2-0 when it plays Slovenia in the early game in Innsbruck.
The two North American favorites will face off in a key game Thursday that will go a long way in determining positioning for the second round.
Antti-Jussi Niemi gave Finland a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, and former Atlanta forward Tomi Kallio had two assists.
Finland outshot Ukraine 54-21.
Ukraine (0-2) was whistled for 18 penalty minutes, and clearly annoyed Finland with a rough edge to the game.
“I have no respect for their hockey style,” said Florida’s Olli Jokinen, playing in his eighth world championship. “We were lucky that nobody got hurt. This was not a hockey game – it was a slashing competition. It’s always the same thing when we play them. I’m glad this is over.”
Daniel Sedin led Sweden, the runner-up at the worlds the past two years, with two goals in the easy victory over Denmark. His twin brother Henrik, also his Vancouver Canucks teammate, added a goal.
P.J. Axelsson of the Boston Bruins, Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, Magnus Kahnberg and Jonathan Hedstrom also scored for Sweden, which outshot Denmark (0-2) 51-12.
