Latvia went into the game after coming from behind to beat Germany, while the Danes had faced the USA less than 24 hours earlier, when they put up a good fight despite losing 6-3.
Nick Olesen got Denmark off to a perfect start after 23 seconds of play when he deflected a hard pass from Mikkel Aagaard into the net.
Aagaard and Olesen were behind Denmark’s second goal as well, on power play, when Latvian goalkeeper Artūrs Šilovs steered a pass intended for Joachim Blichfeld in the direction of Aagaard, who fired home to double the Danish lead.
With 3:32 remaining in the period, Nikolaj Ehlers set up and scored Denmark’s third goal as he was left with an easy job to fire the puck into an open net after Oliver Bjorkstrand had redirected a slapshot from Markus Lauridsen in Ehler's direction.
But with just 16 seconds on the clock, during a delayed penalty, Latvia were handed a lifeline when Kristaps Zile deflected Janis Jaks’s slapshot through a lot of traffic into the net.
Latvia had the upper hand in the second period and were rewarded for their dominance when Eduards Tralmaks tapped the puck home after Kristaps Zile had won a faceoff.
The third period turned into a matter of survival for the tiring Danes as Frederik Andersen kept out 12 shots on goal, and when Latvia took out the goalkeeper to put an extra man on the ice with two and a half minutes left, Denmark’s Olesen fired a 55-meter wrist shot into an empty net to seal the win.