For the second year in a row, a member of the Buffalo Sabres ended the IIHF World Championship in overtime.
Konsta Helenius ended a scoreless gridlock that lasted more than 70 minutes, scoring in overtime to deliver Finland the gold medal in a 1-0 victory against host Switzerland on Sunday.
The loss was an agonizing one for Switzerland, an emerging hockey power that was the most dominant team during the 17-day tournament. When it mattered most, however, it was another hockey power that enjoyed the last laugh.
Helenius’ teammate in Buffalo, American Tage Thompson, ended the World Championship in Stockholm last year in another 1-0 overtime conclusion. The hard-luck loser in that game? Switzerland.
This marks the third consecutive year in which Switzerland has settled for silver in this tournament. On all three occasions, Switzerland was unable to score a goal in the gold medal game.
The medal round was set up nicely for the host Swiss, who were on opposite ends of the draw from both Canada and Finland. Switzerland and Canada were the most dominant teams in the tournament leading up to the semifinals, but a brilliant 24-hour display from Finland was enough to earn gold. One day earlier, Finland controlled play thoroughly for most of the evening in a 4-2 win against Canada, holding Macklin Celebrini and Sidney Crosby in check.
On Sunday, Finland goaltender Justus Annunen was flawless, stopping all 22 shots he faced. Switzerland’s Leonardo Genoni was almost as good, stopping 27 of 28 shots.
Both teams were tight defensively throughout the contest, overtime feeling inevitable during the final 20 minutes of regulation. This time, it was Finland’s turn for a golden goal. While Finland was cycling in the offensive zone, Helenius pulled away from forward Ken Jager before unleashing a wrist shot that beat Genoni, setting off a raucous celebration from the Finnish players.
Switzerland could only watch in agony as it fell painfully short once again.
While Switzerland’s power play was dominant during this tournament, it failed when it mattered most. Finland received two minor penalties on the same play, giving Switzerland a two-minute two-man advantage. In a brilliant display of penalty killing, Finland slammed the door and allowed precious few scoring chances after that point.
In a bit of a consolation prize, Switzerland defenseman Roman Josi, a star for the Nashville Predators, was named tournament MVP.
Another star, though, added to his reputation as one of hockey’s greatest winners. Aleksander Barkov, Finland’s captain and the captain of the Florida Panthers, enjoyed a spectacular tournament.
“It’s like magic every time he touches the puck,” Finland defenseman Olli Määtta said. “It’s like he’s never been away.”
But he has been away.
Barkov, who badly wanted to lead Florida to an unprecedented third Stanley Cup, tore his ACL last September during Panthers training camp and was forced to miss the entire NHL season. His Panthers, reeling without their leader, failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
However, Barkov was deemed healthy enough to participate in this tournament, which began about a month after the NHL regular season concluded. He was at his two-way best throughout the tournament, proving himself once again as not only one of the game’s great players, but also as one of its most valuable in big games.
When Barkov is on the ice, his team is difficult to score against. Switzerland, which knows a thing or two about failing to score in the biggest of games, found out the hard way Sunday.
Finland is three months off winning bronze in the Olympics. Without Barkov, Finland beat Slovakia to earn a bronze medal one game after pushing mighty Canada to the brink in the semifinals.
This time, Finland skated away with gold.
Earlier in the day in Zurich, Team Canada sustained a significant upset in the bronze medal game, falling to Norway 3-2 in overtime.
Canada struggled with Norway earlier in the tournament, requiring a last-minute comeback to ultimately earn an overtime victory. The Canadians weren’t so fortunate when this game went to overtime.
Once again, Canada produced a stunning comeback to send the game to extra time. Robert Thomas scored twice with the goaltender pulled, the game-tying tally coming with eight seconds remaining in regulation, to send the game to overtime.
However, Norway’s Noah Steen ended the contest on a two-on-one rush 3:32 into the overtime period to give upstart Norway third place in the tournament.
