After the initial heavyweight meeting between Finland and the USA, which the former emerged victorious with 2-1, they had expected a more eventful first period than we saw during Finland's second World Cup meeting on Sunday against Kazakhstan.
There were plenty of chances and the first period consisted of 15 Finnish shots on goal and only one Kazakh.
But Kazakhstan would continue to hold tight and it took until the second half of the second period before Finland took a grip on the lead, then through Anton Lundell who via an assist far from outside of number 40, Petteri Lindbohm.
The first shot goes into the outside net but the return finds its way in and also becomes Lundell's first World Cup goal.
Short-term Finnish management
But the long-awaited lead was short.
A Finnish expulsion of Petri Kontiola after a hook and 19 seconds of powerplay was all that was needed for Kazakhstan to take advantage of numerical superiority and equalize.
Then through Kirill Panyukov who steered it nicely into the net roof.
The second period was rounded off with another dangerous shot from Kazakhstan - which this time went the kitchen way and was saved by Harri Säteri.
The Finns went hungry in the third period but the most dangerous chances were Kazakhstan.
The match was Finland's 67th start in a World Cup context and Kazakhstan's 9th. The frustration was palpable among the Finns in the final minutes, but the result stood even in the third period and 1-1 at the final signal would mean a penalty shootout where Finland fell.