The Swiss were in tough in their tournament opener against a Finnish team that looked strong the day before against the Czech Republic.

Finland scored first at 13:38 of the opening period. The Swiss defencemen were caught watching the puck as forward Patrick Laine brought it into their zone, sucking in the defenders along the left boards before finding a wide-open Jesse Puljujarvi with a centering pass for the 1-0 lead.

The goal seemed to wake up the Swiss attackers, who started to put more pressure on goaltender Veini Vehvilainen. Forward Nico Hischier missed a breakaway chance as his shot bounced off the goaltender's arm and sailed over the net. But the Swiss came back and tied the game with 6:53 to go in the first period, thanks to a beauty of a goal from their star player Denis Malgin, who came in fast from the side of the net and beat his defender with a lightning-fast dangle before slotting the puck past Vehvilainen.

Finland almost got back up when a breakaway chance by Aleksi Saarela hit the post on a backhand attempt, but the score remained 1-1 going into the second. However the Swiss had to open the period on the penalty kill, after Roger Karrer attempted to clear the puck out of the zone with less than three seconds to go, only to have the puck sail over the boards drawing a delay of game penalty. On the ensuing power play in the second period, a shot from the point from Villi Saarijarvi was deflected in front of the net by Laine giving Finland the 2-1 lead.