HALIFAX, Canada (AFP) - Niko Kapanen scored the winner halfway through the final period as Finland survived a scare by beating Latvia 2-1 in the qualification round of the World Ice Hockey Championships Friday.

With the come-from-behind win, the Finns moved into second place in Group F behind defending champion Canada.

Kapanen's shot from the right faceoff circle sailed over the shoulder of Latvian goaltender Edgars Masalskis with 9:56 left in the third at the Halifax Metro Centre arena. He took a nice drop pass from Sami Lepisto.

"We didn't expect it was going to be that tough," said Finnish forward Teemu Selanne. "We had over 60 shots so it is frustrating when can't score more than that. The good thing is that we found a way to win."

Lauris Darzins opened the scoring for Latvia before the game was even two minutes old. Darzins wheeled around the net and tucked the puck behind Finnish goalie Niklas Backstrom.

It was the first goal of the tournament for Darzins, one of three Latvian national team members who plays for HK Gomei.

There was a steady parade of Latvian players to the penalty box in the first period as they took seven penalties to Finland's one.

Latvian goalie Masalskis had to be at his acrobatic best as he faced 36 shots in the opening frame. Latvian had just five shots on the Finnish goal in the first.

"That is the most shots I have ever faced in a period," Masalskis said. "I am pretty tired.

"It was crazy. There were so many penalties we did let in a shorthanded goal."

Heading into Friday's game, Finland had one of the best power plays in the tournament, scoring on 35.29 percent of their chances. But Friday they went zero-for-14.

"We didn't capitalize on our opportunities," Finnish coach Doug Shedden said. "You give a team confidence and their goalie gets hot and then they will hang around and hang around and make it into a horror movie."