Czech jumped to an early lead after twelve minutes of play, when Rostislav Olesz surprised Finnish goalie Hannu Toivonen from a dead angle. Olesz scored again just moments later, as Janne Jalasvaara failed to mark his man in front of Toivonen and Olesz had a little luck deflecting the rebound to the net.
From the start of the second period it seemed like the Czechs were forfeiting the game to the hosts. Finland's effort finally paid off just half a minute before the end of the second period, which was filled with penalties. Though it took effort of a team Czech defenseman to get the puck to the net, as Ondrej Nemec was the unlucky one to reach for the puck just before Czech goaltender Marek Schwarz got his glove on to cover the puck. Finland had another scoring chance just seconds before the buzzer, when Sean Bergenheim's deflection in front of the goal sailed slightly over the crossbar.
The home team started the third period on a power play, and Finland's man advantage finally delivered, as Sami Lepistö's hard slapshot from the blueline tied the game at two. The Finns kept rolling for a few minutes, but then Lennart Petrell nailed team Czech defenseman Michal Barinka with an open-ice hit and was given a game misconduct.
- The check was vicious. Barinka has a broken nose and a concussion, Czech coach Alois Hadamczik stormed.
Finland killed the ensuing five-minute penalty and again had the upper hand while playing five-on-five. The hosts scored the game winner with just five minutes left in the game, when Valtteri Filppula took advantage of a slight communication breakdown between the Czech's and slipped the puck through Schwarz's five-hole. The visitors were stunned and couldn't find a way to tie the game in the final seconds. Toivonen kept Finland alive with a clutch save in the last minute.
- It was a relief to get the win. The game was surely exciting. The first goal was vital, because it freed us, Finland's coach Hannu Aravirta thought after the game.
- This was a strong display of physical, very aggressive and intensive play from the team. Our self confidence grew during the game and it gave us more power. The anguish was building up pretty badly, but the team showed its grit, Aravirta analyzed.
Czech star Jiri Hudler pondered the team's attitude.
- Our skating died (after the first period), as we thought we had already won. We stopped skating in the second period and started to move the puck around too much, the captain explained.
Coach Hadamczik was disappointed that Czech couldn't break Finns' spine in the first period.
- It was one exciting game. They scored and we took an unnecessary penalty at the end of the second period and that made the difference in the game. It's too bad we couldn't score more in the first period, Hadamczik said.
