A trio of Buffalo Sabres first round picks will be playing for the gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship on Tuesday night in Edmonton, Alberta.
Tuesday night will feature Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn and Team Canada taking on Ryan Johnson and the United States after both teams earned wins on Monday night in the semifinal round at Rogers Place.
In the early game of the night, it was Cozens and the Canadians who dominated Russia in a 5-0 shutout win to earn a spot in their second-consecutive gold medal game at the World Juniors.
Monday's rematch of the 2020 gold medal game in the Czech Republic was primarily dominated by the Canadians from start-to-finish, especially in the first period with a three-goal onslaught.
It took Canada just 59 seconds to get the game's first goal as Alex Newhook (Colorado Avalanche) was able to lift a shot over the shoulder of goalie Yaroslav Askarov (Nashville Predators) and off the back bar of the net. Quinn was credited with a secondary assist on the opening goal, giving the 2020 first round pick (eighth overall) his fourth assist and fifth point of the tournament.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Canada scored its second goal of the period thanks to Connor McMichael (Washington Capitals), who was able to tap-in a pass from Jakob Pelletier (Calgary Flames) after Askarov lost his stick. The play started with Cozens winning a puck battle in the Russian corner, followed by his pass to Pelletier, who found McMichael to the left of the net.
Canada capped off the opening period about five minutes later with a power play goal courtesy of Cole Perfetti (Winnipeg Jets), who was able to circle around in open space, get a good look and fire his shot over the glove of Askarov. Once again, Cozens helped set up the power play tally and was credited with his second assist of the evening.
The lead stretched to 4-0 just 4:09 into the second period as defenseman Braden Schneider (New York Rangers) took advantage of another lost stick for Askarov, and beat the Russian goaltender with a wrist shot over his right catching glove.
At the tail end of the second, Cozens was a one-man show as he collected a rebound in his own zone, streaked out to the neutral zone, and then won a puck battle to get himself loose for a breakaway. On his breakaway attempt, he was hooked by defenseman Artemi Knyazev (San Jose Sharks) and awarded a penalty shot, but ended up getting stopped by Askarov again in the end.
Russia desperately attempted to gain life in the third period, but Canada wasn't having any of it as goalie Devon Levi (Florida Panthers) was solid all night long, turning away all 28 shots faced on the night.
While Cozens was turned away earlier in the game, he would not be denied in the third period with Askarov on the bench for an extra attacker with less than two minutes remaining. The 19-year-old would cap off the night's scoring for Canada with an empty-net goal to officially punch their ticket to the final.
With his three-point night, Cozens has upped his point total in the tournament to 16 points (8+8) in just six games. In the past two World Junior tournaments, the 2019 first round pick (seventh overall) has scored 10 goals and registered 15 assists for an astonishing 25 points in 13 games.
Following the game, Cozens was named as one of the Best Three Players of the tournament for Canada, as voted on by the coaches. The other two players included Levi, as well as defenseman Bowen Byram (Avalanche).
Cozens is now tied for fourth in Hockey Canada history in scoring at the World Juniors, just one point behind Jordan Eberle and Brayden Schenn for the second (26). Only Eric Lindros has more total points in World Juniors history for Canada with 31 (12+19) set in 21 games played.
Canada will be looking to repeat as World Junior champions on Tuesday night, and capture a third gold medal in the past four tournaments.
As for the United States, they advance to the gold medal game after escaping Finland in their semifinal matchup on Wednesday. It was a late goal from forward Arthur Kaliyev (Los Angeles Kings) that was the difference, as he put the U.S. ahead, 4-3, with 1:16 remaining in regulation.
The Americans got the scoring started in the first period when forward Alex Turcotte (Kings) was able to tap-in a rebound off a Kaliyev shot in front of goalie Kari Piiroinen (undrafted) with 7:21 remaining in the frame.
Finland quickly responded 1:27 later on the power play as forward Kasper Simontaival (Kings) was camped in the low-slot and finished off a nice passing play to tie the game at 1-1.
The U.S. seemed to take control of the game late in the second period with two goals to take a 3-1 lead heading into the intermission.
First, it was forward John Farinacci (Arizona Coyotes) who slipped in behind the Finnish defense and was sprung for a breakaway off a pinpoint accurate pass from defenseman Jackson LaCombe (Anaheim Ducks).
Just 1:07 later, with Finland trying to defend on a four-minute double-minor penalty, forward Matthew Boldy (Minnesota Wild) tapped-in a nice pass from Trevor Zegras (Ducks) from the slot to put the U.S. in a good spot heading into the final period of play.
However, the stingy Finns found a way to fight back and tie the hockey game late with two goals coming in the final nine minutes of play.
Simontaival scored his second goal of the game with 9:22 remaining in regulation to cut the deficit to 3-2, as he found himself wide-open in the slot to take a pass from defenseman Kasper Puutio (Panthers), and he fired his shot past goalie a sprawling Spencer Knight (Panthers).
Less than five minutes later, forward Roni Hirvonen (Toronto Maple Leafs) evened the score on the power play as his quick one-time snap shot was able to just find its way through Knight with 3:43 to go.
But just when the game was just about to head to overtime, Kaliyev sent the U.S. to the gold medal game as he was able to fire a beautiful wrist shot from the faceoff circle that beat Piiroinen high to the glove side.
As for Johnson, the 2019 first round pick (31st overall) finished his night logging the most minutes he's played in a game this tournament with 19:59 of total ice-time. While he had a quiet night on the stat sheet, his complete play in both ends has made him one of the more reliable defensemen on the U.S. roster.
Through his six games in the 2021 World Juniors, Johnson has scored one goal and picked up three assists for four points, while also registering four shots on goal, a plus-5 rating, and six penalty minutes in 16:03 of average ice-time.
For the United States, they are on to their third gold medal game in five years at the World Junior Championship. In 2017, they beat the Canadians in a shootout to win their last gold medal in Montreal, Quebec. However in 2019, they settled for a silver medal after a late regulation loss to Finland in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Team USA's top scorer throughout this tournament has been Zegras, who has scored six goals and registered 10 assists in six games. His 16 points is tied with Cozens for the tournament lead in scoring, while his 10 assists ranks him No. 1 in that category.
Both Cozens and Zegras are likely in the running for the tournament's Most Valuable Player honor, which will be announced following Tuesday's gold medal game.
Faceoff between the U.S. and Canada is set for 9:30 p.m. EST, while Russia and Finland will face off in the bronze medal game at 5:30 p.m. EST.