World Juniors 2015: Finland's Young Lions undone by Eichel, power play

MONTREAL — Earlier this week, Finland's head coach Hannu Jortikka was quoted in the Finnish daily Sanomat as saying - in his opinion - Team USA was the best team at the 2015 world juniors, even better than the host Canadians.

After the American's beat the Finns 2-1 in a shootout on Friday, his position had changed when asked by a Canadian journalist about his quote.

"The coaches are so tired they (say) a lot of crazy things," said Jortikka. "That's one part of this game outside of the rink.

"One thing for Canada is that the pressure at home is not so easy for young kids game after game."

If not for the play of Finnish starter Ville Husso, the score would have been settled long before heading to the shooutout. The netminder, who plays pro hockey for IFK Helskini, stopped 36 shots in the loss.

American Jack Eichel, 18, one of the top players ranked for the 2015 NHL draft, was the star of the game. He set up the tying goal with a pass to himself - off the boards - and then a beautiful backhand pass to teammate Alex Tuch who beat Husso.

"Eichel is a great player, so dangerous," said Husso.

Jortikka echoed the sentiment.

"He's a good player," said the Finnish coach. "Everybody knows that.

"Everyone can see (the U.S.) has a couple of good, unbelievable players."

Eichel score on the opening goal of the shootout as well. As he was carrying the puck down the ice en route to the net, he was met by a chorus of boos from the crowd at the Bell Centre.

"I know we're going to be scrutinized and up against things," said Eichel of the partisan Canadian crowd. "We're not really going to let the crowd or any outside distractions get to us."

It was a good opening for the Americans against the Finland, the defending champions from last year in Malmo, Sweden.

"We battled really hard from start to finish," said Eichel, who is playing in his second straight world junior tournament. "We knew it was going to be a tough game because they were defending champs, you got to give them a lot of credit, they played a really close checking game. It's good for us to get the win hopefully we can build off that and get some confidence."

Even more frightening than facing the American forwards led by Eichel was the Finnish power play. Disorganized and sloppy, there were times the Finns couldn't even break out of their own end.

Jortikka summed up his team with the man advantage as "terrible" particularly in the first 40 minutes of the game. In the second period, with U.S. defenceman Zach Werenski in the box for hooking, the Finnish power play was disastrous with the Americans putting more shots on goaltender Ville Husso shorthanded in two minutes than at even strength.

"We need some practice with the guys together," said Jortikka. "We don't have any practice with this line together because (defenceman) Julius Honka came so late (from his team in the AHL). He hasn't played with the other guys."

Finland will face Slovakia on Saturday, while the U.S., next plays on Sunday against Germany.