Championship game
Canada 3, Finland 2 (OT) — Kent Johnson (Columbus Blue Jackets) put away his own rebound at 3:20 of overtime to give Canada its 19th tournament title and first since 2020.
“[Logan Stankoven] made a good play with the puck and made a nice pass to my backhand and I tried to go five-hole, but there was a lot more room than that, and then I hit the rebound,” Johnson said. “3-on-3 in overtime, there’s just so much a lot of space out there and you don’t throw the puck or really go for it that much, it’s all just skill and IQ, so it’s good.”
The goal came after just 1:06 after Canada forward Mason McTavish (Anaheim Ducks) blocked a shot on Canada’s goal line to keep the game tied.
“I do not know [how I did it], honestly,” McTavish said. “I just saw it trickle down and thought, ‘I’ve got to do something here.’ Seriously, I don’t even know what happened. I just got lucky. It’s such a good feeling…you can never get enough of it. That’s why you play hockey, for games like these, opportunities like these. Finland played so hard, so much pride, so much courage to come back. To win Johnson’s goal is unbelievable. I’m so proud of this group.”
Canada goalie Dylan Garrand said, “I pushed, he kind of went by and the puck went up and over me and I looked back and Mack just pulled it off the line. Oh my God, what a feeling. Then we go down and score … there’s no better feeling right now.”
Joshua Roy (Montreal Canadiens) and William Dufour (New York Islanders) each scored and McTavish had two assists for Canada, which marked its 34th top-3 finish. McTavish, the captain, was named Canada’s player of the match. Garrand made 29 saves for Canada, which has won seven straight tournament games, outscoring its opponents 41-14.
Alexi Heimosalmi (Carolina Hurricanes) and Joakim Kemmel (Nashville Predators) each had one goal and Juha Jatkola (2023 NHL Draft eligible) made 29 saves for Finland, which marked its 17th top-3 finish and first of 2020 (third place).
Canada, which was 0-for-7 with 12 shots on the power play, won 6-3 when the teams played in the final game of the preliminary round on August 15.
Roy gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 11:18 of the first period, scoring on a backhand from the slot after McTavish sent a header to the right post.
Dufour scored on a quick shot from the top of the right circle for a 2-0 lead 48 seconds into the second period. Defenseman Olen Zellweger (Ducks) had the primary assist to finish with a tournament-high nine assists.
Heimosalmi pulled Finland within 2-1 on a shot from the top of the right circle off a Samuel Helenius (Los Angeles Kings) screen at 4:09 of the third period.
Kemmel tied the game at 2-2 after taking a pass from Topi Niemela (Toronto Maple Leafs) and scoring on a low shot from the left circle at 10:46.
“It was a nice pass from Topi and I had an empty net so I just shot,” Kemmel said. “We played very well and it’s disappointing to lose. I’m very proud of our team.”
Canada is 26-9 with six ties against Finland at the WJC. The teams played each other in the WJC final for the first time on Saturday.
“We just gave it our all, put it all on the ice and let’s see what happens and that’s what we did,” Niemela said. “It’s hard to win in Canada, against Canada.”
A comforting game
Sweden 3, Czech Republic 1 — Jesper Wallstedt (Minnesota Wild) made 27 saves to help Sweden win the consolation game and finish third in the tournament.
“We really didn’t want to leave this place without a medal and we came out here today with full confidence and we wanted that medal a little more than the Czechs,” he said.
Walstead, who allowed eight goals in five games in the tournament, made 11 saves in the first period, nine in the second and seven in the third.
“Making saves look easy is the way I want to play, that’s my style of play,” Walstead said. “I want it to look as easy as possible. That’s my game plan and I want to make as many small moves as possible and when I have to step out of my comfort zone and make those game-winning saves, I want to do that. I felt good, I felt like the pucks were coming at me and hitting me, and that’s always a good sign.”
Fabian Liesel (Boston Bruins), Isaac Rosen (Buffalo Sabres) and Linus Sjodin (Sabres) scored for Sweden, which finished in the top three for the 20th time and first since finishing third in 2020.
Michal Gut scored and Tomas Suhanek (2023 draft eligible) made 20 saves for the Czech Republic.
Lissel gave Sweden a 1-0 lead 14:22 into the first period. He skated past Czech defenseman Jiri Tihacek (2023 draft eligible) and down the right wing before scoring on a layup.
Guth tied the game at 1-1 at 13:30 of the second period when Jan Misak’s (Montreal Canadiens) point shot deflected off his left foot in the slot on the power play.
Rosen scored 1:49 later on a shot from the top of the right circle on a faceoff off a faceoff by Theodor Niederbach (Detroit Red Wings) to give Sweden a 2-1 lead at 15:19.
Sodin made it 3-1 at 16:34 of the third period on a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Suchanek on the far side.
“I think we gave it our all in that game, but we weren’t lucky enough to win it in the end,” Suchanek said. “They played really well. It was a really tough game and I had to save the second goal… it decided the game. We were so close but it just didn’t work out.”
The Czech Republic had two power-play opportunities in the third period when it was a one-goal game, but Valsted turned down two shot attempts. The Czech Republic finished 1-for-3 on the power play.
“I think he was the best goalkeeper in the tournament,” Sweden coach Thomas Montaigne said of Valstedt. “He’s got a huge amount of experience, but he’s a great person and a leader and if you could put a ‘C’ on a goalkeeper, he’d certainly have it. He is calm and plays around the net. He touched the puck sometimes, but the feeling on the bench is that because he’s so calm, he solves things and everyone just says OK.
“Jesper is an incredible goaltender and that’s something the Minnesota Wild can work with.”
The match was Montaigne’s last at the World Juniors. The Sweden coach has led his country to three top-three finishes (second in 2018) in six years.
“It was a tough loss yesterday (against Finland in the semifinals),” captain Emil Andrae (Philadelphia Flyers) said. “We had to regroup, come together as a group and we talked about it and we have a responsibility for our country and of course Thomas Montaigne too. It was his last game and we got together and said we’re going to do it for him, so I’m happy for him.”
LNH.com writer Guillaume Lepage and NHL.com freelance correspondent Derek Van Diest contributed to this report
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