The Finns win to face Canada in the final
– It is difficult to think about what went wrong immediately after the match, says the Swedish captain Emil Andrae. “It’s a tough loss. They slowed us down when we got into their zone. We didn’t get a lot of time in their zone. It’s a 1-0 game. It could have been us who won.”
Finnish goalkeeper Leevi Merilainen sat on the bench after posting an 89.3 save percentage and 2.70 GAA in the 5-2 quarterfinal win over Germany. The switch to Jatkola had shades of 2016 in Helsinki when coach Jukka Jalonen switched from Veini Vehvilainen to Kaapo Kahkonen in the medal round.
Both teams mixed up their skaters. Finland’s Brad Lambert, limited to one point against Latvia so far in this tournament, came off in favor of Ville Koivunen. For Sweden, defender Anton Olson came back in, while Ludvig Jansson sat out.
The Finns brought the tournament’s deadliest power play (13-for-22, 59 percent) into this semifinal, but initially couldn’t convert in a tight-checking opening stanza.
Sweden got off to a tough start. Daniel Torgersson backhanded the puck over the glass in his own end for a first minute delay of game penalty. But the Swedes killed it. They then tested Jatkola off the rush, as he made a tough glove save on Oskar Magnusson and grabbed the loose puck before Victor Stjernborg could poke it in.
Finland’s power play got another chance after Andrae, Sweden’s points leader (4+4=8), took a boarding penalty for pushing Kasper Simontaival into the end boards. But Suomi fumbled again, getting their best chance just after the minor went out with forward Eetu Liukas narrowly failing to convert on the doorstep.
The Swedes pressed late in the first, with Leo Loof ringing the puck off Jatkola’s right post and the Finnish netminder denying Liam Ohgren from the slot. But no dice. Jatkola closed the door early in the second period with two more slot saves on Ohgren.
When the Swedes got caught with too many men on the ice, it was Wallstedt’s chance to step up. He made an incredible stop on Simontaival right in front, but couldn’t stop Puutio at 5:18.
The Finnish assistant captain cut around Sweden’s Mans Fjorfall in the left faceoff circle and slipped the puck between the goalie’s pads. The goal tied Puutio, a 20-year-old from KalPa Kuopio, with Andrae for the tournament lead in defensive goals (four). This was also only the second goal the top-ranked Swedish penalty kill has conceded on these world juniors.
The Finns, who owned the worst PK of 45.4 percent (six goals against on 11 deficits) heading into the semifinals, danced on the edge when they outscored Sweden 5-on-3 for 1:34 late in the second period. But the closest the Junior crowns came was an Andrae shot from the right faceoff circle that Jatkola caught.
“We were smart with the puck,” Puutio said. “We never did anything fancy on the blue line, and when they put pressure on us, we were humble and blocked shots and gave it everything we had in front of our goaltender. And he played a heck of a game.”
Early in the third period, both sides pressed for the next goal. Finland’s Juuso Maenpaa rang one off the bar, while Jatkola stopped Oskar Olausson on back-to-back opportunities.
Wallstedt came up big to stop Aatu Raty’s five-hole attempt on a breakaway after eight minutes, and the Swedish goalkeeper’s left post helped when Liukas hit it on the rush two minutes later. Wallstedt was also involved when Kalle Vaisanen dangled through the Swedish defense for a dangerous chance.
With Wallstedt drawn for an extra forward in the final minute, a Heige Grans blast from the blue line deflected off Jatkola’s mask. When the game was stopped, Monten used his timeout. But the Swedes failed to master the equalizing goal.
Looking ahead to the bronze medal battle against the Czech Republic, Andrae said: “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. The basic stuff, go to the net. Right now, it sucks because we lost, but I promise we’ll be ready for tomorrow. We will do everything we can to get that bronze medal.”
Friday marked just the third all-time semifinal meeting between Sweden and Finland since the IIHF instituted the World Junior playoff system in 1996. In both previous instances, the winning team took home the gold medal. It could be a good omen for Finland.
In 2012, Max Friberg scored the penalty kick winner as Sweden won 3-2. In 2016, Finland’s Antti Kalapudas scored the eventual 2-1 winner, set up by captain Mikko Rantanen and Kasperi Kapanen, on a power play midway through the second period.
Friday’s result lowers Sweden’s all-time junior world record against Finland to 20 wins, two draws and 18 losses.