World Junior Hockey Championship 2017 Final: USA vs. Canada Score, Reaction

Tyler Parsons saved all five shot attempts he faced in the shootout to help the United States bring home the gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in dramatic fashion Thursday.

The United States overcame two different two-goal deficits to force overtime against Canada in Montreal, which wasn't enough to break the 4-4 tie. In a five-round shootout, Troy Terry scored the only goal, and Parsons took care of the rest in what went down as a 5-4 win for the U.S.

TSN provided a look at the final save:

Bryan Hayes of TSN had high praise for the battle:

Terry, who had the game-winning goal for the Americans in the semifinals against Russia, came through once again. Kieffer Bellows was big as well, recording two goals, while Parsons' work in the net kept things close with 46 saves.

Thomas Chabot was the best player for Canada, scoring one goal and garnering an assist while playing 43 minutes and 53 seconds, including over 11 minutes on the ice in overtime. Goalie Carter Hart also did great work despite allowing four goals, making strong saves to force the shootout.

The score was tied at 2-2 entering the third period, but most of the action came after that point.

Nicolas Roy excited the home crowd with a score a few minutes into the period, followed by an excellent breakaway goal by Mathieu Joseph.

NHL Network captured the impressive score:

Down 4-2, the United States bounced back with a goal by Bellows and a tip-in by Colin White, evening the game at 4-4 three minutes later. White tied Jeremy Roenick for the team record of seven goals in the tournament, per StatsCentre.

Emily Flitter of Reuters summed up the action:

The fun continued with heart-wrenching moments on each side until regulation ended, sending it to a sudden-death overtime period.

Brian Wilde of TSN690 gave his thoughts on the level of play:

The back-and-forth action continued in overtime with plenty of opportunities for each team to end the game, but no one did, with both goalies competing at an outstanding level.

With no goals in 20 minutes, the sides went to a shootout.

Parsons and Hart were outstanding again in the final session, but Terry's goal was the difference.

Canada looked like it would earn an easy win at home based on the first few minutes. The squad came out aggressively, and it paid off less than five minutes into the game.

As Mark Masters of TSN noted, it wasn't a surprise to see who got the opening goal:

Chabot earned a point in every game in the tournament and led all defensemen with nine.

Matt Barzal deserves a lot of credit for the score as well, beating the defense and finding a wide-open teammate, via TSN:

Things got worse for the United States, as Jeremy Lauzon doubled the lead just a few minutes later.

As Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted, sloppy play by the defense contributed to the goal:

The 2-0 lead held through the first period, with the home team in control. Asa Rehman of Global News summed up the game to that point:

However, the second-period action reflected the opposite, with the Americans coming out with momentum.

Charlie McAvoy scored the United States' first goal about three minutes into the frame with a strong shot from the middle of the ice, as TSN showed:

As Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun pointed out, Canada wasn't helping its cause:

That penalty turned out to be costly, as the United States evened the game with a power-play goal. Adam Fox fired it from the blue line, and Bellows deflected it in.

Canada again appeared to be in great shape with two early goals in the third period, leading to a frenzied atmosphere. Douglas Gelevan of CBC described the home-ice advantage:

The United States answered with two quick goals, however, and held on to force overtime.

Neither side did much offensively from there, but Terry's goal was enough to secure the championship for the Americans.

The win capped an incredible tournament for the United States, featuring two victories over the host nation and a dramatic semifinal win over Russia. With next year's tournament set to take place in Buffalo, New York, the team could continue its success.

Meanwhile, the Canadians will be disappointed with a silver medal at home but still remain the class of the tournament with 16 titles.

The young players on the roster showed plenty of ability over the course of the event, and many will star on NHL teams before long.

Postgame Reaction

Team USA got a nice reaction after the game from 1980 Olympics hero Jim Craig:

As for the current competitors, it's hard not to notice Terry after coming through in the shootout two games in a row.

"That kid has ice in his veins," Bellows said of Terry, per Masters. "I think he'd score on 11 out of 10 chances."

It was a different mood in the other locker room, although Canada coach Dominique Ducharme kept his head high.

"We're proud of our guys...they gave everything they had...to leave the rink empty tonight is disappointing for them," Ducharme said, per Michael Traikos of Postmedia News.

It was one of those games where neither team deserved to lose, but the Americans gave just a little bit extra to take home the gold.

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