"It feels good to score and get a win. now we are in much better position in the standings. We have many experienced players who play for good teams and good league and I think we are getting better."

But while Latvia celebrates its second success in three games, Kazakhstan's eight-year wait for a victory at the top level of the World Championship continues with Ari-Pekka Selin's team looking anxiously at another relegation battle.

It didn't take long for the game to heat up, with Latvia snatching the lead after just 75 seconds. Miks Indrasis provided the finish, neatly wrong-footing Kazakhstan's defence after a slick interchange involving Jakub Redlihs and Stals.

But Kazakhstan was level before the five-minute mark after Maxim Semyonov's fantastic pass from deep in his own zone set Talgat Zhailauov away from Georgijs Pujacs and bearing down on Maskalskis in the Latvian goal. Zhailauov still had plenty to do in his duel with the goalie but clinically dispatched the puck to claim one of the goals of the competition to date.

Kazakhstan began to exert control over the game, outshooting its opponent 12-4 in the first session as a clutch of minor penalties disrupted Latvia's game. But it only turned its supremacy into a tangible advantage in the final minute when Yevgeni Rymarev took Nikolai Antropov's pass into the zone. Latvia's defence was questionable as the Torpedo Ust-Kaminogorsk winger easily reached the bottom of the circle, but the finish was emphatic as he fired across Maskalskis to score off the far post.

Kazakh defenceman Kevin Dallman reflected that his team did some good things even in defeat. "Our power play came through and got a couple of goals," he said. "If we keep doing that we will have chances to win games. They guys played well today and we almost did it, but now we have to get some rest before we play a very good team tomorrow."

The second session saw not one but two dramatic turnarounds in an absorbing encounter. First Latvia, inspired by Kulda and Mikelis Redlihs, turned a 1-2 deficit into a 4-2 advantage, only for Kazakhstan to extract maximum advantage from a 5v3 power play and tie the scores in the final minute of the session.

Kulda was first to show, making it 2-2 in the 24th minute when he turned in a Redlihs one-timer. The defenceman struck again just before the halfway mark with a slap shot from the blue line off an Indrasis pass, beating the unsighted Yeremeyev in the bottom corner.

An unusual spell of three-on-three hockey also ended badly for Kazakhstan: Mikelis Redlihs emerged from the in bin to collect a Kaspars Daugavins pass and put a backhand through the five-hole, stretching the Latvian lead to the 4-2.

But the period ended with the Kazakhs roaring back. Penalties on Herberts Vasiljevs and Zemgus Girgensons set up a two-man advantage, and while Maskalskis pulled off a terrific reflex shot to deny Dmitri Upper, he could do nothing as successive Kevin Dallman howitzers from the point richoted around the slot. Nikolai Antropov pouched the first, then got an assist as Yevgeni Blokhin tied it up five seconds before the siren to set up that fascinating final period.

Goalie Maskalskis admitted it was a test of endurance as much as hockey skills out there. "We're pretty evenly-matched opponents and in a game like that it's not always skill that decides it - sometimes its a battle of wills, sometimes it's even a mistake that settles it," he said. "Both teams were a bit nervous because we knew that whoever lost was in trouble, so I'm happy with the result even if the performance wasn't always great."