France 5 - Finland 1 (Sunday)
Flyers center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare made international sports news on Sunday as he selflessly tried to decline player of the game honors and then called up a teammate, goaltender Florian Hardy, to bask in an ovation from the crowd as France defeated Finland for the first time in its IIHF World Championships history. Bellemare, an alternate captain who centers France's top line and plays a much more offensive oriented role in international hockey than his defensive-minded duties for the Flyers, collected a goal and an assist while going plus-three in the victory. Hardy made 42 saves, while Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel (Bellemare's linemate) scored a pair of goals. Flyers center Valtteri Filppula, skating on the Finns' top line and frequently playing against Bellemare's line, was minus-three with a minor penalty in the second and four shots on goal. Team Finland captain Lasse Kukkonen, an ex-Flyer, was unable to play in the game as he was back in his home country for medical re-evaluation of a hand injury suffered in the previous game.
In Monday's slate of games, Russia (Ivan Provorov) takes on Germany. Canada (Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Travis Konecny and -- if cleared to play -- Sean Couturier) play against Belarus. The Finns, with Filppula, will try to bounce back from a so-so performance in a win over Belarus and Sunday's loss to France as they play the Czech Republic. Jakub Voracek is coming off a three-point game against Belarus, and Radko Gudas also scored in that game.