Denmark trailed for almost the entire match in regulation time, but three minutes before the end, 17-year-old Teresa Christensen restored parity to make it 2–2. As neither team could decide the match in overtime, it went to a penalty shootout.
The Danes proved the sharpest in the shootout. On Denmark’s fifth attempt, Frederikke Foss fired the puck into the net, sending the Kvik Hockey Arena in Herning into a frenzy of celebration.
Heading into the World Championship, the match against Japan had been identified as a "must-win" for the Danish women’s ice hockey team; a defeat would have meant finishing last in Group B and facing a desperate battle to avoid relegation.
Consequently, Japan will now need to pull off a major upset in one of their final three group stage matches—against Canada, Finland, or Sweden—to prevent Denmark from reaching the quarter-finals on home ice.
However, the crucial match did not begin as the Danes had hoped for. Five minutes in, Japan’s Umeka Odaira carried the puck from her own zone into Denmark’s end and put Japan in the lead. Later in the first period, Odaira struck again, once more showcasing her impressive skating speed before extending the lead.
However, less than a minute into the second period, Nikita Bergmann got the Danes on the scoreboard and with three minutes remaining in regulation, the very young Teresa Christensen was sent away on a counterattack.
Her shot just barely squeezed over the line, and Denmark held firm defensively for the final minutes, forcing the game into overtime.
Neither nation was able to find the back of the net during the extra period, so the match had to be decided by a penalty shootout. Nicoline Sondergaard got Denmark off to a perfect start by scoring on the first attempt, but Odaira—who had already scored twice in the game—brought Japan back level.
Nordström, however, stopped all of Japan’s remaining attempts, and when Foss stepped up for Denmark’s fifth shot with the chance to seal the victory, she blasted the puck into the net.