Great Britain fell to a 6-1 defeat to Lithuania on the second day of the IIHF U20 Men’s World Championship Division II Group A in Zagreb.
It looked to be a positive start for Martin Grubb’s side with an early powerplay opportunity as Max Maslak was taken down after regaining possession of the puck near the right face-off circle.
GB struggled to dominate possession with the man advantage and netminder Alfie Jefferis made a great save short-handed to keep the score level.
Lithuania continued on the front foot, throwing shot after shot at Jefferis, but the young netminder stood tall between the pipes.
It wasn’t until the eighth minute that the deadlock was broken. A face-off in the offensive zone saw Finn Bradon beat the Lithuanian defenceman to the puck, before playing a backhand pass from behind the net to Joe Lynch who was waiting in the slot to fire home (8:25).
Lithuania couldn’t break down Martin Grubb’s side despite applying the pressure as the period continued and Britain held onto their one-goal lead heading into the second period.
Dovydas Jukna scored the equalising goal just four minutes into the second session after Simas Ignatavicius won possession of the puck on the right (24:28).
Britain were sent on a powerplay 30 seconds later, looking for a quick response, but Lithuania tested their defence even whilst shorthanded as Jukna went close to scoring his second.
Daniil Kovalenko gave Lithuania the lead on the powerplay with a point shot finding its way through traffic and past Jefferis (30:02).
Lithuania kept applying the pressure with Jefferis called upon to make crucial saves to keep his side in the game, but another penalty-kill gave the opposition a chance to extend their lead further and Kajus Zeynalov walked the blueline before firing a shot towards goal and making it 3-1 (35:37).
Ignatavicius danced down the centre of the ice, weaving through the GB defence and firing into the top corner, again on the man advantage, as Lithuania extended their lead further (38:28).
The third period saw Lithuania add a further two goals within 20 seconds of each other to seal Great Britain’s fate.
Ignatavicius scored from the slot for his second of the game (49:15) and Junka neatly cut inside from the right for his second of the afternoon (49:35).
GB have a rest day tomorrow before returning to action on Thursday against China.
GB schedule
Monday 6th January: Great Britain 1-3 Croatia
Tuesday 7th January: Lithuania 6-1 Great Britain
Thursday 9th January: Great Britain v China 12:30 (11:30 GMT) – watch on a webcast
Friday 10th January: Netherlands v Great Britain 16:00 (15:00 GMT) – watch on a webcast
Sunday 12th January: Great Britain v Romania 12:30 (11:30 GMT) – watch on a webcast
