After leading his team to an important victory against Team Germany on Saturday, Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Artūrs Šilovs suited up for the second consecutive day on Sunday to face Denmark in Team Latvia's final preliminary round matchup.
And, unfortunately, he did not get the same result.
On Sunday, Denmark beat Latvia, 4-2, to give both teams a 1-2 record heading into the qualifying round. Šilovs stopped 17 of 20 shots on goal, while counterpart Frederick Andersen put on a stellar performance at the other end, stopping 33 of 35 Latvian shots and leading the way for Denmark to earn the narrow victory.
Nick Olesen got Denmark off to a blazing start, as he scored just 23 seconds in on Denmark's first shot of the game to put his team up 1-0. Mikkel Aagaard potted a power play goal four and a half minutes later to extend the lead, and Nikolaj Ehlers made it 3-0 later in the period.
However, Latvia gained some momentum with a late goal by Kristaps Zile, and that carried over into the rest of the game. Eduards Tralmarks brought Latvia to within one with a second-period goal six minutes in, and they kept pushing. But, with two and a half minutes to go and Šilovs pulled, Olesen delivered the final blow with an empty-net goal and his second of the game to give Denmark the 4-2 win.
Latvia is set for a matchup against Team Sweden in the qualification round on Tuesday, so they will face Šilovs's Penguins' teammates in Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell. It is unclear who will get the call for Latvia between Šilovs and Elvis Merzlikens.
