Going beyond the Quarter-finals for the first time since Finland last won the competition in 2022 is the aim, and a win over a challenging Germany side in the first match of Group A will serve as a real boost for Leijonat.
The match opened up in the eighth minute when Maximilian Kastner was called for tripping, and Finland made full use of the first powerplay a minute later when, after a sustained period of attack resulted in Teuvo Teravainen finding Anton Lundell in the middle, and he made use of a pocket of space to fire home.
Sakari Manninen was called for interference soon after, and having survived the powerplay Finland were back on top, but failed to double their lead before the end of a first period in which they had 10 shots on goal to the Germans' six.
Indiscipline continued to be Finland's downfall in the second period as they failed to press home their advantage - they had too many men on the ice in the first minute, before Nikolas Matinpalo served two minutes for slashing and another four for high-sticking.
Those penalties came after the best chance of the middle period, as Waltteri Merala poked the puck past Philipp Grubauer, but somehow Moritz Seider turned and swept the puck off the line in what was a remarkable piece of defending.
After Germany failed to equalise on any of their four powerplays, Finland punished them again when they conceded their second. Andreas Eder was called for interference, and with just over three minutes played in the third, Teravainen played the puck right across and Jesse Puljujarvi tucked it away.
Germany finally got on the board five minutes later, when an excellent one-two saw Leon Gawanke tee up Stefan Loibl for a clean finish, but just when the Bearers of the Eagle looked to be mounting a comeback, Finland killed the game off in the final five minutes.
The Germans failed to clear their zone and allowed Saku Maenalanen to wrestle possession back. He wasted no time in shovelling to Aatu Raty, and his quick shot from in front sealed a 3-1 victory.
Antti Pennanen's team will be aiming to stay top of the group on 16th May when they face Hungary, while Germany will be hoping to get off the mark the following day against Latvia.
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