Kulich's overtime winner sends Czechia to first World Junior gold medal game since 2001

It's semi-final Wednesday at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and the first game of the day saw Czechia taking on Sweden.

The Czechs and Sweden met in the bronze medal game in August's tournament, which was won by the Swedes, 3-1. They also faced each other in the preliminary round of this year's tournament, on December 29th, with Sweden winning that game as well, in overtime by a score of 3-2.

As was expected, this game was going to be a tight affair and that was the case in the first period as neither Czechia or Sweden could find the back of net, despite each having an opportunity on the powerplay. While Sweden has been near-perfect on the penalty kill, their powerplay has been abysmal, sitting at 2-for-20 (10%) on the tournament after failing to score on their chance in the first period. After 20 minutes, the game remained knotted up at 0-0

The game didn't remain scoreless for long into the second period, as only 1:39 into the middle frame, Florida Panthers prospect Ludvig Jansson blasted a shot from the point to put Sweden up 1-0.

Three of Jansson's four goals this tournament have come against Czechia as he scored a pair during their meeting in the preliminary round, including the overtime winner.

SWEDEN OPENS THE SCORING 🚨

Ludvig Jansson continues his dominant play with his 4th goal of the tournament.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/lMdD8HBY9R— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 4, 2023

Despite a lengthy 5-on-3 early in the second period, the Swedes couldn't add to their lead and headed to the third period up 1-0 on Czechia.

The majority of the third period remained 1-0 up until the final minute of play when Czechia tied things up. With their goalie pulled, Czechia worked the puck around in Sweden's zone and made its way to David Jiricek. Jiricek blasted it through a crowd and through Carl Lindbom's five-hole to make it 1-1 with 38.8 seconds left, forcing overtime.

DAVID JIRICEK TIES THE GAME WITH 38 SECONDS LEFT IN REGULATION!#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/RScZyF6DaZ— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 4, 2023

With less than a minute to go in overtime, Buffalo Sabres prospect Jiri Kulich drove the puck to the net on his backhand, brought it over to his forehand and beat Lindbom under the arm on his blocker side to send Czechia to their first gold medal game at the World Juniors since 2001.

JIRI KULICH SENDS CZECHIA TO THE GOLD MEDAL GAME 🇨🇿#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/yPRFzfM40W— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 4, 2023

Czechia will now await the winner of the Canada/United States to see who they'll face in Thursday's gold medal game. Puck drop for tomorrow's championship game is set for 6:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. local.

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