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 took a nice backhand pass from Sami Lepisto then sailed a shot over the shoulder of Latvian goaltender Edgars Masalskis with 9:56 left in the third.

"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 you can't score more than that. The good thing is that we found a way to win."

Russia needed a penalty shootout in Quebec City to beat Belarus 2-1 in the only other qualification game.

Despite being the heavy favourite and outshooting their opponents 64-27, the Finns struggled to score Friday at the Halifax Metro Centre.

On day earlier, defending champion Canada dodged a bullet by beating lowly Norway 2-1 and hockey giant United States was spared blushes against Germany by posting a 6-4 victory.

Selanne says the close calls for the top seeds is a good thing because it makes the games more exciting and bring more parity to the 16-team event.

"I think it is great. If we beat Latvia 8-0 and Canada beats Norway 10-1 then people will say there are too many teams in the tournament," Selanne said.

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

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

Latvian goalie Masalskis had to be at his acrobatic best as he faced 36 shots in the opening frame. Latvia 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 didn't 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.

"We won the game. It wasn't the score that everybody wanted but it was the result that we wanted."

Saku Koivu played his first game for Finland. The Montreal Canadiens captain joined the team this week after his National Hockey League club was eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Koivu failed to register a point Friday while playing on a line with Selanne and Ville Peltonen.

It took half a game and 43 shots for Finland to score its first goal.

Defenceman Janne Niskala started the play with a 30-metre (100-foot) pass from deep inside his own zone to a streaking Antti Pihlstrom.

Pihlstrom went into alone and chipped the puck over the blocker and stick of Masalskis to tied the game at 1-1 in the second.

Latvia ran into more penalty trouble in the third but Masalskis and his defenders weathered the barrage.

In Quebec City, Alexei Morozov scored the winner in a shootout as Russia had to beat back a strong challenge from Belarus.

Maxim Afinogenov, with two, and Alex Ovechkin scored in regulation time for Russia.

Andrei Mikhalev, Dmitry Dudik and Alexei Ugarov scored for Belarus who jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before the Russians rallied with three unanswered goals.

Belarus goalie Vitali Koval made 52 saves while Russia's Mikhail Biryukov stopped 20 shots.