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Kapanen: winner

A winner halfway through the final period from Niko Kapanen helped Finland come from behind and beat Latvia 2-1 in the qualification round of the World Ice Hockey Championships in Canada.

The Finns have therefore moved into second place in Group F behind the host nation and defending champions.

Kapanen took a nice backhand pass from Sami Lepisto before unleashing a shot over the shoulder of Latvian goaltender Edgars Masalskis with 9:56 left in the third.

"We didn't expect it was going to be that tough," said Finnish forward Teemu Selanne. "We had over 60 shots so it is frustrating when you can't score more than that. The good thing is that we found a way to win."

Also on Friday, Russia needed a penalty shootout in Quebec City to beat Belarus 2-1 in the other qualification game.

Struggled

Starting the match as favourites and outshooting their opponents 64-27, the Finns struggled to make it count at the Halifax Metro Centre.

Lauris Darzins opened the scoring for Latvia after just two minutes by wheeling around the net and tucking the puck behind Finnish goalie Niklas Backstrom.

There was a steady parade of Latvian players to the penalty box in the first period as they took seven penalties.

Latvian goalie Masalskis also had to be at his best as he faced 36 shots in the opening frame. In contrast, Latvia had just five shots on the Finnish goal in the first.

Finland had one of the best power plays in the tournament coming into the match, scoring on 35.29 percent of their chances.

But on Friday they went zero-for-14.

After his Montreal Canadiens side was eliminated from the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, captain Saku Koivu played his first game of the week for Finland.

Nevertheless, playing on a line with Selanne and Ville Peltonen, Koivu failed to register a point.

It took half a game and 43 shots for Finland to score their first goal, which came when Antti Pihlstrom received a 100-foot pass from defenceman Janne Niskala before chipping the puck over the blocker and stick of Masalskis to tied the game at 1-1 in the second.

Latvia ran into more penalty trouble in the third but Masalskis and his defenders weathered the storm.

Strong challenge

Meanwhile, Alexei Morozov scored the winner in a shootout as Russia had to beat back a strong challenge from Belarus.

Maxim Afinogenov, with two, and Alex Ovechkin scored in regulation time for Russia.

Andrei Mikhalev, Dmitry Dudik and Alexei Ugarov scored for Belarus who took a 2-0 lead in the first period before the Russians rallied with three unanswered goals.