Nashville Predators goalie Justus Annunen and Finland beat Switzerland in the gold medal game at the Ice Hockey World Championship Sunday.
Annunen stopped all 22 shots in the 1-0 overtime win, helping Finland secure its fifth gold title in its tournament history. He averaged a .934-save percentage with 1.47 goals against average in eight games. It's his second gold finish in at the international level with his first from the 2017-18 U18 World Juniors.
Roman Josi, the captain for Switzerland, was named tournament MVP and best defenseman along with his silver medal. Josi led all defensemen in goals and points with five and 12 respectively. He also led the tournament in plus/minus with a +15 rating.
Predators take home hardware following successful tournament outing
Four Predators flew to Switzerland to compete in this year's tournament: Josi, Annunen, Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan Ufko. It was a successful run for the Predators squad as two of their players will go down in the international hockey history books.
Annunen was one of the top goaltenders in the tournament. He was one of eight in it to record a shutout, with his coming from the gold game. The 26-year-old ranked fifth in save percentage and third in GAA. He also ranked third in minutes in play percentage with 80.3%, meaning he was rarely pulled or taken off the ice.
Josi was arguably Switzerland's backbone in this year's tournament. While he didn't lead the team in points scoring (led by forward Sven Andrighetto with 15 points), he was tied for second in goal scoring with five goals, all while being a defenseman. He set a tournament record for fastest hat-trick with 4:45, beating the previous record of 6:35 held by Shane Doan.
Ufko and USA was eliminated earlier in the tournament after they lost 4-0 in the quarterfinals against Canada. He played eight games, scoring a goal and three points with a -3 rating. O'Reilly served as the alternate captain for Canada, playing a crucial role in its final four appearance. He played 10 games, scoring five goals and nine points with a +0 rating.
Canada was eliminated in the semifinals by Finland 4-2, sending it to bronze medal game where the team lost 3-2 in overtime against Norway.
Now with the Men's World done, fans will focus their sights to the Stanley Cup Finals. Colton Sissons, Jeremy Lauzon, Cole Smith and the Vegas Golden Knights will rival up against Mark Jankowski and the Carolina Hurricanes. Whether or not you like either team, it's going to be a fun series regardless.
