On Tap: World Junior Championship final, third-place game | NHL.com

Gold-medal game: United States vs. Finland (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN) — This will be a repeat of their game Dec. 29, when Tuomas Uronen (Vegas Golden Knights) scored in overtime for a 5-4 Finland victory.

Finland goalie Petteri Rimpinen (2025 draft eligible) made 30 saves. The player nicknamed “Showtime” leads the tournament with a .939 save percentage while playing every minute of all six games.

“He’s the main reason that we’re here,” defenseman Emil Pieniniemi (Pittsburgh Penguins) said. “Just a hell of a game, every game.”

Finland coach Lauri Mikkola said he isn’t worried about Rimpinen being tired with Sunday being his seventh game in 11 days, including playing back-to-back days for the second time.

“He has been playing in the Finnish league [with K-Espoo] a lot, and this is how often we’re playing there,” Mikkola said. “So it’s normal for him. That’s no problem for Showtime.”

The U.S. is the defending champion and will be looking to go back-to-back at the World Juniors for the first time.

“It would mean the world,” said forward Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers), one of seven players on the current roster to play in a game at the 2024 WJC. “No other U.S. team has ever done it. And I think for our group, the legacy, I think it would mean everything for us. So we’ll be ready to go for sure.”

Perreault (three goals, six assists) is part of a top line, along with Washington Capitals prospect Ryan Leonard (five goals, three assists) and James Hagens (four goals, four assists), a candidate to be the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, that has been one of the most dynamic in the tournament.

Puck management will be key against a Finland team that scored just 19 goals but is opportunistic and is led by Konsta Helenius (Buffalo Sabres) with seven assists, including four in the 4-3 overtime win against Sweden on Saturday, and Jesse Kiiskinen (Detroit Red Wings) who has six points (five goals, one assist) in six games.

“We know they’re obviously a good team, can score pretty quick in transition,” Perreault said. “I think just cleaning up those turnovers that we had in puck management and just play our game, and we should be in a good place.”