Lithuania beat Croatia 7-2 and will now play in a bronze medal decider against Japan. Croatia battled gamely against the hosts Lithuania, but lacked the required firepower to overcome the home nation.

An early powerplay goal from the ever present Kuliesius put Lithuania ahead before Kanaet converted some initial good pressure for Croatia. Lithuania only had a slight edge on possession, but were far deadlier in the final third of the ice. As a result, Belic was by far the less busier of the two netminders. Despite some worrying tendencies to stray from his net, the Croats simply lacked the ability to convert pressure into clear cut chances on net.

Croatia hit penalty trouble midway through the second period when Jacmenjak was found guilty of checking from behind and Nauseda scored a third Lithuanian goal that was already starting to make the game look safe.

Croatia, after battling so hard for two periods, seemed to disappear during the third period. The performance that had impressed so many the day before against Slovenia wasn't there and Lithuania started to stamp their authority on the game.

The late flurry of goals, including two Lithuanian in the final 66 seconds were irrelevant with the game long over. As a result, Lithuania go into their last game still with a chance of bronze. While Croatia will now have to face a winner takes all relegation game, their performances so far still imply that they are going to be too strong for Australia.

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