Canada controlled the game in the first period during the five-on-five, but the problem for them was that they only conceded four minors and were nearly seven minutes short. The Czechs opened the scoring at 7:07 with a four-minute penalty after Zach Whitecloud made a hard-hitting penalty. Captain Roman Cervenka found David Krejci wide open, and Krejci came in and fired a shot from under Chris Dreidger’s arm.
The Czechs had a great opportunity to score following a counterattack after 80 minutes, but Tomas Hertl’s shot from the left sailed high over the bar.
The Canadians had to kill two more offenses, but managed to escape the period with a 1-1 draw thanks to last-minute work from Pierre-Luc Dubois. He created a turnover behind the Czech goal, took the record out in front and let Dylan Cozens do the rest. Cozens’ first shot was saved by Vejmelka, but the Canadian got his own rebound and hit it with 32.3 seconds from the end.
“It must have been a great goal,” said Captain Thomas Chabot. “A goal like this is always great for any team, especially in this line. They have played very well for us throughout the tournament. They have been a big part of our success.”
That momentum shifted to the second, and Canada dominated it from start to finish, scoring three goals to take a 4-1 lead. Two of them came to power play as the Czechs faced off against the referees while Canada behaved. The Canadians took their first lead at 7:33 with the extra skater after David Pastrnak was penalized for unnecessary interference next to his own goal with play on the center ice. Adam Lowry scored with a precise shot, and 81 seconds later he made it 3-1.
Dawson Mercer unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors’ keeper did well to tip wide. Finnish coach Kari Jalonen asked for a timeout for his Czech team, but quiet time did not work. Two minutes later, Canada scored again, also in a five-on-four. This time Matt Barzal came in at the top of the circle and fired a punctual cross shot and went inside.
Czech had his best chances at the end of the period, but that was when Dreidger played his best. He stoned Pastrnak with a quick left leg from a close rebound, and then calmly overtook Jakub Vrana on a breakaway.
Sillinger increased Canada’s lead to 3:56 in the third. He took control of the record in his own end after a loss, hit the left and beat Vejmelka with a clean shot. It was the kind of record he needed to save at the time of the game.
The Czech received a penalty shortly afterwards in a strange play. A Canadian shot bounced wildly on the glass and Vrana created a breakaway. He was hooked from behind, and Pastrnak was chosen by Jalonen for the gift. In an anti-climax attack, he fired outside.
Cozens made it 6-1 at 12:50 when he gave the record behind a projected Vejmelka. But it got worse for the Czech. They challenged the goal offside, but the call was maintained and they incurred a smaller bench.
Canada played to the defense of textbooks during the period, without making an aggressive prediction, but without allowing the rush of strange men or anything like a dangerous opportunity. In the end, it was a dominant performance. Now they have a game left, for gold.
“The only reason we came here is to get to this gold medal game and do everything we can to win it,” Dubois said. “Step 1 is done, we’re in the game we wanted to play, and now step 2 is to prepare and get that gold medal.”