Canada and Sweden in WC final
20 May 2017 | Fredrik Pålsson
Great third period comeback by Canada takes to the final where they will play Sweden.
With Russia dominating the game and 2-0 up after two periods everything pointed in the directions of Russia in the final but after a stunning third period Canada came back and will play for gold tomorrow.
It was goals by Kuztnetzov and Gusev in the second period that had given Russia the 2-0 lead. Mark Scheifele gave Canada the important contact with 1-2 already 17 seconds into the third and a nice power play. That goal was a start of a Canadian dominance outshooting Russia 19-5 in the third period. But with five minutes left to play Russia still held on to the lead.
But then Canada turned things around with two quick goals. First Nate MacKinnon took the puck back after losing control of it and fired home a shot and less than two minutes later Ryan O'Reilly scored what turned out to be the game winner when put in a loose puck in front of goal. Sean Couturier completed the Canadian come back with an empty net goal for 4-1.
Canada will play Sweden in the final. Sweden dominated the semi final against Finland and won 4-1. Alexander Edler gave Sweden an early lead with a hard shot after Niklas Bäckström won a faceoff. And even if Joonas Kemppäinen tied the game quite quick this was Sweden's game outshooting Finland 41-23.
The Swedish power play has been surprisingly weak so far but in the second period Sweden took control of the game with two power play goals. First John Klingberg found the net with a shot from the blue and later William Nylander scored his seventh goal of the tournament when Niklas Bäckström served him in the slot. Nylander is now the top goal scorer of the tournament.
Finland just had a few chances and when Joakim Nordström scored his first ever goal for Team Sweden with about five minutes left the game was over. Finland got some pressure in the end but it was to late and the Finns have to settle for the bronze medal game.