The Danes are right back at it tomorrow night against another formidable opponent in Czechia. The Finns have a day off before facing Latvia on Sunday.
Petteri Rimpinen stopped 10 shots for the shutout while Anton Wilde was stellar for the Danes, making 37 saves. Roope Vesterinen led the attack with two goals, and Jasper Kuhta chipped in with three assists.
"We came out a little bit shaky in the first period," admitted Danish defender Viggo Damgaard to IIHF.com. "We allowed some easy goals, but in the third period we came out as a team and played good hockey. Finland is a big hockey country, but I thought we played a solid game against them. It's a big tournament for all of us. There were a lot of positive things from the third period that we can take to tomorrow's game."
Kuhta was one of five players to finish with at least two points for Finland — and 12 with at least one point — along with Vesterinen, Aron Kiviharju, Lasse Boelius, and Leo Tuuva. Kuhta and Tuuva both assisted Vesterinen inside the first two minutes to open the scoring, and Onni Kalto scored a second goal 30 seconds later.
William Bundgaard scored for Denmark 6:08 into the first period, but Oliver Suvanto then found the net with a power play goal for Finland four minutes later. Finland, who reached the final last year, had 20 shots on goal to Denmark's two in the opening period.
Aatos Koivu, Joona Saarelainen and Vesterinen all added to the Finnish lead in the second period to put Finland up 6-1 with 8:39 remaining in the period.
Anton Linde then reduced the deficit for Denmark through a power play goal for Denmark 2:22 into the third period. Anton Wilde saved 37 shots for Denmark on 43 attempts (0.860 save percentage).
Denmark returned to the top division of the World Junior Championships for the first time since 2019, after earning promotion by winning the Division I-A tournament over Austria last year.