The United States falls 4-2 to the Swedes in the semifinal match.
By Brandon Schlager
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The dream scenario of a USA-Canada gold-medal game rematch is dead. In fact, the 2018 World Junior Championship has a new favorite.
Sweden announced itself as perhaps the best team in the tournament Thursday with conviction, scoring a 4-2 victory over the defending goal medalists and host American on their home soil. And while Team USA settles for a shot at bronze, the heavily stacked Swedes take aim at their first world juniors gold since 2012.
In front of a sparse semifinal crowd at KeyBank Center, the United State’s glory run came to a halt thanks to poor special teams play and a stellar Filip Gustavsson, who stopped 29 of 31 shots in net for Sweden. In fact, he didn’t allow a goal until Kieffer Bellows broke the shutout with 7:36 remaining.
Brady Tkachuk followed Bellows’ goal to make it 4-2 four minutes later. But Sweden’s three-goal third period, which included back-to-back markers while shorthanded 38 seconds apart, chased starting goalie Joseph Woll and proved too much for the Americans to mount a comeback.
Sweden, the Group B winner, is the only unbeaten team left standing, riding a 6-game win streak in which it has outscored opponents 27-11. Anchored by the uber-talented defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, this year’s likely No. 1 over NHL draft pick, and a wealth of other first-round talent, they’ll head into Friday’s gold-medal game as the favorite.
By how much depends on the winner of Canada vs. Czech Republic in the other semifinal meeting.
Sweden is searching for its third world juniors gold medal (1981, 2012). It hasn’t finished in the top three since winning silver in 2014.