Penn State Hockey: Talvitie Scores Again in Finland Win at World Junior Championship

Penn State men’s hockey forward Aarne Talvitie scored his second goal in as many games for Finland at the World Junior Championship on Thursday night.

Talvitie’s goal was the second scored by his team in a 5-0 blowout of Kazakhstan as the Finns picked up their first victory of the competition.

Talvitie had plenty of time and space to wire home one of his trademark wrist shots after intercepting a pass in the high slot. He finished the game with a plus-minus rating of +2 and two shots on goal. The freshman played on the left wing on Thursday after spending most of Wednesday’s game against Sweden at center.

Finnish captain Aarne Talvitie (@PennStateMHKY & @NJDevils) picks off a pass and scores for a 2-0 lead!#WorldJuniors #FINvsKAZ pic.twitter.com/UWtMtcXvJD

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 28, 2018

Finland improved to 1-1 at the tournament after losing its opener, 2-1, to Sweden on Wednesday. Talvitie’s team is currently in second place in Group B behind only Sweden; the top four teams from each of the competition’s two groups advance to the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Penn State sophomore Evan Barratt and Team USA were idle on Thursday following their 2-1 victory over Slovakia. Barratt scored the game-winning goal and was named the United States’ player of the game on Wednesday. The Americans will be back in action on Friday night against Kazakhstan — the puck will drop on that game at 10 p.m., and you can watch the action live on the NHL Network.

Finland will be idle on Friday before its next game against Slovakia at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. That game won’t be broadcast live in the United States, but you can watch the full game at 2 p.m. Sunday on the NHL Network.