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Panthers at the WJC: Levi and Knight advance to Gold Medal game

Florida Panthers 2020 seventh round pick Devon Levi stopped all 27 shots as Canada cruised to the final of the World Junior Championship in Edmonton with an impressivee 5-0 victory over Russia.

Levi is now a perfect 6-0 with a 0.53 GAA, .975 save percentage and a tournament-leading three shutouts. He has turned aside 116 of 119 shots for the Canadians, who will face the United States tonight for the gold medal. He even made a bid for an empty-net goal!

2019 first-rounder Spencer Knight backstopped the Americans to a 4-3 win over Finland in the semifinals.

Knight finished with 36 saves to pick up his fourth win of the tournament. The U.S. led 3-1 before the Finns rallied to tie the game late in the third period. Arthur Kaliyev scored the game-winner with 1:16 remaining in regulation.

Anton Lundell set up the game-tying goal for the Finns. Knight stopped his shot from in close and the rebound came out to Roni Hirvonen, who put it home with 3:43 to go.

Lundell registered five shots on goal, won 15 of 20 faceoffs, and finished the game with an even rating while logging 21:09 of ice time. The assist was Lundell’s fourth of the tournament, giving him a team-leading eight points.

Defenseman Kasper Puutio was named Finland’s Best Player for his two-assist performance. Puutio drew the primary assist on both of Kasper Simontaival’s goals for his first two points of the tournament.

Here, Puutio makes a crossing pass to Simontaival, who finishes it off for a first period power-play goal.

The combination worked again 11:38 into the third period as the Finns climbed within a goal.

Puutio logged 14:17 TOI and finished the game with thee shots on goal and an even rating.

Tonight’s games

Finland (Lundell, Puutio) vs. Russia 5:30 p.m. NHL Network

United States (Knight) vs. Canada (Levi)

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