Monday night’s 1-0 victory in Herning moves the Norwegians off the foot of Group B in its seventh and final game. With four points, Tobias Johansson’s team is up to sixth in the standings with four points. As things stand, Hungary is also safe in seventh, but that could all change if Kazakhstan can take something from Switzerland when the teams meet tomorrow.
Noah Steen got the vital goal in the seventh minute, scoring off Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s rush. He also made some great blocks in the final seconds to protect that slender lead. Hungary struggled to generate offence, especially as Norway poured forward in search of an insuring goal in the third, and Tobias Normann made 17 stops to protect his team’s fragile lifeline.
His biggest save came was also his last of the night. Norway was on the penalty after taking a too many men call with 4:44 on the clock, Vilmos Gallo rifled in a heavy shot from the right-hand circle. Normann got across to make the block and prolong a top-flight run for Norway that dates back to 2005.
On an anxious night for both teams, Norway had a good early opportunity to gain the initiative when Gabor Tornyai sat for holding on 1:41. However, the power play was slow to get up to speed. It took 1:15 to generate a shot on goal and that was a routine effort from Brandsegg-Nygard.
However, back at equal strength, the Norwegians found the vital breakthrough in the seventh minute. It started with Janos Hari, Hungary’s leading scorer here in Herning, dithering over a shooting chance. He lost the puck and Brandsegg-Nygard raced away to set up Steen for the opener. A 19-year-old created the goal for a 20-year-old, suggesting that Norway’s young roster could enjoy brighter times if it came through this test and stayed in the top division.
For some time, it seemed that neither team was prepared to seek the initiative. There were just nine shots on goal in a cautious first period. The action did not really pick up until midway through the second when, at last, we started to see flashes of the kind of all-out play that a survival showdown would usually encourage.
It started with Brandsegg-Nygard landing a big hit on Bence Horvath, almost depositing him onto the Norwegian bench. His efforts led to a good chance for Norway, with Steen getting free in front of the net but hitting the post.
Then Hungary got on the power play and almost adapted a rugby tactic into a successful hockey play. Gallo got up close to test Normann and as the puck broke free, a 10-man pile-up on the Norwegian crease saw Hungary desperately trying to push it over the line. Somehow, amid the confusion, Max Krogdahl emerged with possession and Norway breathed again.
With Norway having the weakest PK in the competition coming into this game, Andreas Martinsen’s needless tangle with Doman Szongoth on the Hungarian crease seemed like a huge risk. And he was almost punished: the Magyars produced their best play to date, with Bence Horvath hitting the post off a feed from his namesake Milan.
Outshot in the middle frame, Norway looked for a fast start to the third to try and put the game to bed and secure its survival. An early power play saw Jonas Berglund agonisingly close to making it 2-0 as the puck squirmed past Balizs, but Milan Horvath did enough to prevent the Norwegian forward getting to stick down to tap home.
Chances kept coming. Steen used his pace to get away from the Hungarian defence before rattling a shot into Balizs’s pads, then the goalie pulled off the save of the game to deny Thomas Olsen. Balizs slid across his net to get a pad to the open corner as Olsen’s shot was heading inside the post.
There was more: Havard Olsrem Salsten should have done more when a turnover granted him the freedom of the Hungarian zone, but on his approach to the net he lost control and the puck dribbled harmlessly off his stick.
Little was seen of Hungary until that late power play. And even after Normann’s crucial save, there was time for a minute with an extra Hungarian skater. Steen made a huge block to deny Nilsson before Norway killed the clock to stay alive by the narrowest of margins.