Led by Spencer Knight, United States men stun Canada to win World Junior Hockey Championship
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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Spencer Knight made 34 saves, Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist, and the United States topped Canada 2-0 on Tuesday night to win the world junior hockey championship.
The Canadians were undefeated at the 2021 tournament and aiming to repeat as gold-medal winners, but had to settle for silver on home ice after running into a strong American team.
The U.S., which finished sixth in 2020, won six straight games to capture its fifth under-20 title following a round-robin loss to Russia on opening day.
The Americans improved to 4-1 all-time against Canada when going head-to-head for gold at the tournament.
In the earlier game, Anton Lundell had two goals and Finland beat Russia 4-1 to win the bronze medal.
Mikko Petman and Juuso Parssinen also scored for Finland, and Kari Piroinen made 29 saves.
Ilya Safonov had the lone goal for Russia. Yaroslav Askarov stopped 28 of 30 shots.
In a later start, the United States played Canada for the gold medal. Canada was attempting to repeat as tournament champions. The Americans placed sixth in 2020.
It’s just the second time in 11 tournaments that Russia — which last won gold in 2011 and grabbed silver last year — will finish off the podium.
Finland lost the bronze-medal game to Sweden last year after winning gold in 2019.
Safonov tucked in a rebound 6:03 in to open the scoring.
Lundell, the Finland captain, deflected a point shot from the top of the crease 5:05 into the second to tie it.
Another tipped goal, this time twice and eventually credited to Petman, gave Finland its first leadless than two minutes into the third period.
Russia captain Vasili Podkolzin took a four-minute penalty for cutting Finnish forward Matias Mantykivi with a high stick with 6:45 remaining. Russia, however, killed off the extended Finnish power play and pushed for the tie.
Lundell and Parssinen secured the victory for Finland with empty-net goals.