Canada holds off Russia for World Junior Championships gold
By Phil Watson
Canada appeared to be in the driver’s seat with a 5-1 lead in the gold-medal game of the World Junior Championships, but Russia stormed back only to fall short.
When Canada opened a 5-1 lead in the gold-medal game of the IIHF World Junior Championships at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, it looked as if the hosts were going to cruise to their first title in the event since 2009.
Canada got the win, but it was far from a cruise, as the Russians stormed back with three second-period goals to get to within 5-4.
That was as close as it got as Canada held off several late chances by Russia to hang on for the victory.
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Canada had a 2-0 lead just 2:32 into the game after early goals by Anthony Duclair (a 2013 New York Rangers draft pick) and Nick Paul (Dallas Stars 2013, rights traded to Ottawa Senators).
At that point, Russian coach Valeri Bragin yanked goalie Igor Shestyorkin (New York Rangers 2014) in favor of seldom-used Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders 2014).
Russia made it 2-1 on a marker by Dmitri Yudin at 9:20 of the first period.
Canada opened the second period with another flurry, with Connor McDavid scoring at 5:08, Max Domi (Arizona Coyotes 2013) finding the net at 7:08 on a long shot that should have been handled by Sorokin and Sam Reinhart (Buffalo Sabres 2014) tipping in a shot from Domi at 12:30 to make it 5-1.
The Russians stormed back, scoring three goals in 3:16 to get to within 5-4. Ivan Barbashyov (St. Louis Blues 2014) started the Russian blitz with a power-play goal at 14:21 that just trickled over the line behind goalie Zach Fucale (Montreal Canadiens 2013) and just 32 seconds later, Sergei Tolchinki (Carolina Hurricanes, free agent) finished off a two-on-one with a goal.
At 17:37, Nikolai Goldobin (San Jose Sharks 2014) scored on the power play, again dribbling a power-play shot past Fucale.
Fucale stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced, while Sorokin made 15 saves on 18 shots after Shestyorkin allowed two goals on just three shots.
Canada finished the tournament unbeaten in seven games, outscoring its opponents 39-9 in a dominant performance. Russia went 1-2-1 in group play, but upset the United States in the quarterfinals on Friday, 3-2, before stunning unbeaten Sweden in Sunday’s semifinals, 4-1.
Slovakia beat Sweden 4-2 on Monday for the bronze medal.
It was the 14th meeting in the gold-medal game for Russia and Canada and the eighth since 1996.
Canada now leads Russia 8-6 in those matchups.
Finland won the event in 2014, with the U.S. winning gold in 2013, Sweden in 2012 and Russia topping Canada for the gold in 2011.
Next year’s tournament will be held in Helsinki, Finland.
Canada leads with 16 gold medals in WJC competition, dating to 1977 when it became an officially sanctioned event by the IIHF. Russia and its predecessor, the former Soviet Union, is next with 13 golds. Finland and the U.S. each have three and Sweden and the Czech Republic have won the event twice each.
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