World Junior Hockey Championship 2017 Results: Friday Group Scores, Reaction

Preliminary action at the 2017 World Junior Championship continued Friday with a pair of clashes, and the action certainly didn't lack for drama. 

The evening's first showdown featured a high-scoring showdown between Denmark and Switzerland in Montreal, while the second clash saw Latvia and Slovakia duke it out following slow starts to the tournament. 

Below, you'll find a rundown of the two group-stage games as well as updated standings for the tables through Friday's action. 

Group	Matchup	Result/Start Time (ET)
Group A	Denmark vs. Switzerland	Switzerland def. Denmark 5-4 (Shootout)
Group B	Slovakia vs. Latvia	Slovakia def. Latvia 4-2

Group A: Switzerland def. Denmark 5-4 (Shootout)

Place	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	PTS
1. Sweden	3	3	0	0	0	9
2. Denmark	4	1	1	1	1	6
3. Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	0	5
4. Switzerland	3	0	2	0	1	4
5. Finland	3	0	0	0	3	0

Denmark led 4-1 just 28 seconds into the second period, but Switzerland refused to go away in a thriller that needed a shootout to decide things after the Swiss scored three unanswered goals to force overtime.

Yannick Zehnder got the Swiss' rally started when he cut the deficit to 4-2 midway through the second frame, and Nando Eggenberger answered the call a few minutes later when he started to make Denmark sweat with Switzerland's third goal of the game.

With momentum swinging in their favor, the Swiss cranked up the intensity in the last period of regulation and appeared fresh as could be against a Danish side that started to tire out during a tense 20-minute stretch that saw Switzerland pepper the goal with shot attempts. 

Zehnder broke through and knotted the score at 4-4 less than four minutes into the stanza, as TSN documented on Twitter, and that was enough to send things to overtime: 

And while Denmark was able to fend off the Swiss and send things to a shootout, it came up empty on all its attempts in the decisive penalty phase and was forced to leave with a single point. 

Switzerland, on the other hand, clinched a spot in the quarterfinals by virtue of the win. Defending champion Finland, though, will be forced to duke it out in the relegation round, according to the tournament's official Twitter account. 

Group B: Slovakia def. Latvia 4-2 

Rank	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	PTS
1. Canada	3	3	0	0	0	9
2. USA	3	3	0	0	0	9
3. Russia	3	1	0	0	2	3
4. Slovakia	3	1	0	0	2	3
5. Latvia	4	0	0	0	4	0

Latvia needed a win in regulation or at least a loss in overtime to secure a point in the group stage, but it couldn't muster the effort necessary to challenge Slovakia in a 4-2 loss. 

In a one-sided affair at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Slovakia seized a 3-1 lead seconds into the third period and never looked back. 

Andrej Hatala secured Slovakia's third goal of the game to widen his side's lead, and that tally came after Milos Roman secured a 2-1 lead with a score to break a 1-1 deadlock shortly before the second period came to a close, via TSN on Twitter: 

As the game started to slip away from Latvia, Slovakia pounced once again in the third period when Marek Sloboda slotted home his squad's fourth goal and put the game out of reach. 

Because Latvia was unable to secure a point in Group B, it will be left to square off against Group A cellar dweller Finland in a best-of-three relegation round. 

Slovakia, on the other hand, can rest easy. It will not be playing to stay alive against Russia on Saturday since the eight quarterfinalists have already been determined. 

However, things only figure to get more daunting for Slovakia from this point forward following a showdown against a listless Latvian team.