World Junior Hockey Championships 2016 Results: Thursday Group Scores, Reaction

Group play continued Thursday at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships, as the remaining eight teams played their fourth game in Helsinki.

Switzerland and Belarus, each sitting in last place in their respective groups, were the only teams in the tournament not in action. Sweden and Russia were each tasked with finishing off their group with difficult opponents, while the United States, Czech Republic and Finland were pulling for upsets from their group leaders.

The matchups will help set up elimination play, which is set to begin Jan. 2. With that in mind, here's a look at how Thursday's action played out.

Thursday Scores

Group	Team	Team	Score
B	Russia	Slovakia	Russia, 2-1
A	United States	Denmark	United States, 4-1
B	Czech Republic	Finland
A	Sweden	Canada

Knockout Round Bracket

Thursday Results

Finland 5, Czech Republic 4

The most thrilling action of the day came when Finland scored two goals in the third period for a comeback 5-4 win over the Czech Republic.

Jesse Puljujarvi netted a game-tying goal at the 10:10 mark, and Patrik Laine added the game winner a few minutes later. The thriller saw five lead changes, as neither team could stop the other from getting the puck in the net. 

Puljujarvi scored his first goal of the game within the first minute of the second period, which was subsequently answered by back-to-back goals from Czechs Jiri Smejkal and Jan Ordos. Roope Hintz and Antti Kalapudas went back-to-back to return the favor for Finland, and David Sklenicka wrapped up the wild second period to send it into the final 20 minutes tied at 3-3.

Finland locked up the second seed and will play Canada in the knockout round. The Czechs face the United States.

Sweden 5, Canada 2

Sweden did not have any trouble getting through the group stage undefeated, racing out to an early lead against Canada before finishing off a 5-2 victory.

Alexander Nylander and Gustav Forsling each took advantage of power plays early in the first period to give Sweden a 2-0 lead, and Adrian Kempe made it 3-1 in the second period with another power-play chance. Anton Karlsson and Rasmus Asplund finished off the goal scoring in the third period.

Kempe, Forsling, Nylander and Asplund each had two points. Ten players overall for Sweden had at least a point. The Swedes finish their group play action with a plus-14 goal differential and enter knockout play as a prohibitive favorite. Canada, which got goals from Mitchell Stephens and Mitchell Marner, finished in third place in its group.

Russia 2, Slovakia 1

Artur Lauta and Yegor Rykov both scored goals as Russia held on for a 2-1 win over Slovakia to clinch a Group B championship.

Lauta scored in the first period off assists from Alexander Mikulovich and Ivan Provorov, and Rykov made it 2-0 midway through the second period. Christian Jaros of Slovakia answered Rykov's goal six minutes later, but the underdog was unable to make a comeback in a scoreless third period.

Alexander Georgiev stopped 20 of a possible 21 shots, while Slovakia's Adam Huska stopped 25 of 27 shots. Corey Pronman of ESPN noted Georgiev seems to have won the battle in the net for Russia:

Russia will move on to elimination play without a loss. The Group B champion has outscored its opponents 14-7 and could be headed for a clash of the titans with the United States in an upcoming semifinals match. Slovakia finishes group play with one win over Belarus, a minus-six goal differential and a matchup against Sweden on Saturday.

Odds are, Slovakia and Russia will have far different experiences from their weekend matchups.

United States 4, Denmark 1

Denmark got on the board first, sending a shockwave into the United States and getting the crowd excited for a possible upset. Then reality set in.

The United States scored the game's next four goals, pushing its way to a second-place finish in Group A with a 4-1 triumph. Auston Matthews, Sonny Milano, Colin White and Anders Bjork found the back of the net for the U.S., which went 3-1 in group play. Its lone loss came against Sweden, which had gone 3-0 heading into its finale.

Mark Masters of TSN noted what this meant for Canada:

Matthews, White and Matthew Tkachuk each accounted for two points, with the latter assisting on the goals by the former pair. The U.S. shot the puck 44 times overall in a dominant offensive performance, peppering Denmark goalie Mathias Seldrup from the opening whistle as his defense failed to provide a shield. Seldrup finished the game with an astonishing 40 saves, and things would have been worse had he not turned in a solid outing.

Contrast that to Brandon Halverson, who saw only 17 shots in a breezy afternoon. He saved 16 of those chances, allowing only a first-period goal to Matias Lassen. 

Denmark's loss clinches its fourth-place finish in the group, meaning it'll have to contend with Russia in the elimination round. The United States, which has outscored opponents by 13 goals, is going to be a heavy favorite in the quarterfinals and could challenge Russia at the bottom of the bracket if they meet in the semis.