(Edmonton) Samuel Helenius hit the target twice and Finland opened the World Junior Hockey Championship by defeating Germany 3-1 on Sunday.
In his second tournament appearance, Helenius tied his goal tally from last year, when he had four points in seven games.
Joel Maatta completed the tally for Finland (1-0-0), who won the bronze medal in the last performance of the event.
Next NHL Draft prospect Brad Lambert was complicit in the two goals for Helenius, who is also his teammate in the Liiga, Finland’s top league.
Luca Munzenberger hit the target for Germany (0-1-0), which is deprived of its three best junior players, Tim Stützle, John-Jason Peterka and Lukas Reichel.
OHL goalie Leevi Merilainen stopped 23 of 24 shots aimed at him for the Finns.
Nikita Quapp conceded three times in 22 shots for Germany.
Both teams are part of Group A, along with Canada, Czechia and Austria.
Later Sunday, Canada will play its first game of the tournament against Czechia, also in Edmonton.
In Group B in Red Deer, Sweden will battle Russia in mid-afternoon, while Slovakia face defending champions USA in the final game of the day.