Sabres' Konsta Helenius scores filthy goal to stun Canada at IIHF World Championships

Sabres' Konsta Helenius scores filthy goal to stun Canada at IIHF World Championships originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Konsta Helenius likely boosted his confidence in a major way by getting on the ice in the playoffs for the Buffalo Sabres.

Now he's using that boost at the IIHF World Championships for Finland.

On Saturday, he helped the Finnish squad knock off the Canadians.

The 4-2 victory sends Finland to the gold medal match and leaves Canada disappointed.

And in large part, it's because Helenius scored one of the nastiest goals you'll ever see.

In on goal, Helenius showed his instincts and his stick-handling to finish:

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That's such a filthy goal that you could almost call it rude.

Helenius has showed that level of skill at the AHL level for the Rochester Americans, and so far, the Sabres have just seen flashes of it.

This is the kind of example, though, that points to a player who will be around in the NHL with Buffalo for a long time.

Scoring goals against a solid (but not Olympic-level) Canadian team is a big confidence booster, and Helenius will try to add onto that in the gold medal match.

For the youngster, it's clearly a plus in this environment that Helenius chose to be at this tournament and represent his country. It's only helping him get better.

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