HELSINKI – Belarus scored three goals in the second period after falling behind 2-0 and held on for its first victory of the World Championship. Belarus is now 1-2 while Kazakhstan in 0-3 and in last place of Group A, a perilous position for a newly-promoted country hoping to stay in the top division for next year. "It was an important win, so that we still have a chance the quarter-finals," Mikhail Grabovski noted. "I think we had a good second period, we scored three straight goals and then we controlled the third period." Kazakhstan scored the first goal early in the opening period while short-handed. Andrei Stepanov made a poor backhand pass inside his own blue line and right there to pick u the puck was Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev. He walked in alone and fired a great shot over the glove of Andrei Mezin. The lacklustre first period gave way to an exciting second in which Belarus fell further behind before taking control. Krasnoslobodtsev put Kazakhstan up 2-0 on the luckiest goal he’ll ever score. With teams playing four a side, he was being checked in centre ice and flipped the puck in. Mezin, however, played it poorly, and the puck fell between his pads and squirted over the goal line. The goal ignited Belarus. Konstantin Koltsov claimed a loose puck in centre after Vitali Novopashin missed a pass to the point in the offensive end, giving Koltsov a breakaway. He fired a shot stick side that beat Vitali Yeremeyev cleanly. Mikhail Grabovski then tied the game on a nice play. He went around Yeremeyev behind the net, but rather than go around, he stopped and cut back, stuffing the puck in the short side to tie the game, 2-2. "I was a little close and I lost control of the puck a little bit," Grabovski explained, "but I know goalies always leave some space there, and I managed to get the puck in." Belarus took the lead for the first time just 15 seconds later when Yevgeni Kovyrshin made a nice deflection of a point shot from Dmitri Korobov, the puck skipping over Yeremeyev’s glove into the top corner. "We got a good start to the game but when they get scored, we lost focus a little bit. We weren't lucky enough," Krasnolobodtsev noted. Belarus played a solid defensive game in the third to preserve the win and keep its hopes alive for a possible quarter-finals berth, or, at the very least, avoid finishing in last place. NOTES: The Belarusians hope to get a boost from Tennessee now that the Nashville Predators have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn might join the team in the coming days. “I met them in February and they were positive about coming,” Belarus coach Kari Heikkilä said. “But we have to talk with them this evening and see what the situation is. If they come I don’t expect them to be here earlier than Friday.” ANDREW PODNIEKS