Pesonen keeps Finland top at ice hockey worlds

Forward Janne Pesonen scored the winning goal as titleholders Finland kept their unbeaten record at the world ice hockey championships here on Sunday with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Slovakia. Pesonen put Finland ahead after 7:32 when he picked up Jarkko Immonen's pass from behind the goal line sending the puck into the net with a backhand shot. Goaltender Petri Vehanen produced 26 saves to lift co-hosts Finland top of their group's table, spurred on by a capacity 13,000 home crowd. "We had serious problems in the first two periods making too many mistakes, while the Slovaks were sharper," Finland manager Jukka Jalonen said. "Fortunately for us we managed to resist." In the late Helsinki tie Switzerland recorded their second win by beating Belarus 3-2 to join the Finns on top. Swiss forward Simon Mozer was twice on target in the first period, while Alexei Ugarov replied with a goal for Belarus. Konstantin Koltsov levelled 1:34 into the second period but Kevin Romy netted the Swiss winner 7:48 into the third, wristing under the crossbar from just outside the crease. Belarus were awarded a penalty shot with 4:36 remaining but Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovsky squandered a chance to save the day. In Stockholm, Russia beat 4-2 Norway to share their group lead with co-hosts Sweden. Russia dominated right from the opening face-off, pinning their rivals back to make Norway 'keeper Lars Volden the busiest player on the ice of the Globen arena, but lacked accuracy in finishing in the first period. In the second, Detroit Red Wings marksman Pavel Datsyuk, defender Denis Deninsov and Toronto Maple Leafs striker Nikolai Kulyomin all scored for Russia, while Norway replied with goals from Morten Ask and Marius Holtet. Pittsburgh Penguins marksman Yevgeni Malkin, who won this season's NHL scoring contest, added two assists to his world championship's record as forward Alexander Perezhogin scored early in the third period to secure Russia's victory. "It was tough as we were playing for the second consecutive day," Datsyuk said. "On top of everything the Norwegians were in fighting form today battling throughout the match. We're all happy we managed to win." In the early Helsinki group match, France recorded their first win by beating Kazakhstan 6-3, as Italy jumped into the Stockholm group sixth place with a 4-3 sudden-death win over Denmark. Latvia chalked up their first points by beating Germany 3-2 late in Stockholm.