With the 2024 IIHF World Juniors Championship down to its final four teams, the United States and Finland looked to punch their ticket to the gold medal game on Thursday in Gothenburg. With Team USA entering the game averaging 7.2 goals per game, they were the favorites to advance to the championship game and came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2.
Related: 2024 Guide to the World Junior Championship
Here’s a look at takeaways from the game, period by period.
Team Finland Contains Team USA in First Period
A turnover in the slot resulted in a goal that USA goaltender Trey Augustine got a small piece of, but the bounced off of the post and got pushed in by center Oiva Keskinen only 1:51 into the game. Team Finland has been tenacious throughout the tournament with the ability to capitalize on loose pucks and opportunities presented to them, often able to cash in on their chances.
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Finland consistently worked to keep Team USA to the outside and along the boards and didn’t offer their opponent anything in the middle of the ice. Both teams traded scoring opportunities and extended periods of offensive zone pressure. Finland’s ability to restrict the United States from creating any offensive momentum was notable throughout the opening 20 minutes of play.
Finland nabbed their second goal of the game after the team created a double screen in front of the net that resulted in a difficult shot from the point to see from Arttu Karki — and deflected by Rasmus Kumpulainen — that slid through Augustine’s legs. To date, Team USA has faced little adversity this tournament and seemed to come out a bit relaxed whereas Team Finland came out hungry and ready to compete to earn their way to the gold-medal game.
Team USA Finds Their Swagger in Second Period
After trailing for less than five minutes in the entire tournament, Team USA came out into the middle frame looking to capitalize on their own offensive opportunities. They started their first five minutes of the period by peppering Finnish netminder Niklas Kokko with five shots on net. Though they were unable to find twine, they were finding their rhythm and groove and generating odd-man rushes and early scoring opportunities. Despite the scoring chances, Kokko kept his team in the game making save after save.
USA forward Jimmy Snuggerud, the St. Louis Blues’ 2022 first-round draft pick of, drew the first penalty of the game on a tripping call against Lenni Hameenaho. USA needed less than one minute on the man advantage to find twine as Snuggerud let a laser of a shot go to beat Kokko bar down on the team’s 10th shot of the period. Four minutes later, with the USA continue to apply pressure, Will Smith potted the game-tying goal on a wide-open backdoor feed from Gabe Perreault.
Team Finland was on their heels the entire period, managing only three shots on goal. The swagger and confidence they’d built through the first period seemed to disappear from the moment the puck dropped on the second. Any opportunity they had to put pucks on net were blocked by the opposition, eliminating scoring chances before they could develop.
Team USA Heads to Gold Medal Game With Third-Period Power Play Game-Winner
Team Finland had a few great chances early in the third period as they came out looking to reclaim their lead. The Finns pushed Augustine to make his first Grade-A save since midway through the first period, but was met with the calm and collected netminder stopping the puck.
Finland later received their first power play opportunity after a slashing call went against defenseman Zeev Buium. The defender was clearly unhappy with the call against him after being hit in the face with a stick in the corner and no call against. Team USA limited Finland’s opportunities but managed two scoring chances of their own while shorthanded. Through the first half of the third, both goaltenders continued to ensure the game remained tied at two apiece.
Some controversial no-calls followed, on at least two high sticks that Finland avoided and one textbook interference play that could have been called against the Americans. However, it was a very questionable hooking call against Kasper Kulonummi that gave Team USA their second power play opportunity of the game. With 13 seconds remaining on the man-advantage, Cutter Gauthier scored on the right faceoff dot to give his team the go-ahead goal with 3:13 left in the game.
Less than one minute later, Team USA took a hooking penalty providing Finland with a late power play and a 6-on-4 situation after pulling Kokko in favour of the extra attacker. Finland could not muster many opportunities as the American’ continued to clog the scoring lanes while Augustine stopped every opportunity against. The United States prevented all of Finland’s final, with the final buzzer sounding on a 3-2 final in favor of Team USA.
Host country Sweden will play in the gold-medal matchup for the first time since 2018 after defeating Czechia 5-2 earlier in the day. The bronze medal game is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET with the gold medal game at 11:30 a.m. ET.
