World Juniors Semifinals Preview & Predictions

World Juniors Semifinals: Preview and Predictions

World Juniors Semifinals kick off on Monday in Helsinki, Finland with the host nation facing Sweden in game one, followed by Russia versus the USA in the second game.

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It’s not often that powerhouse Canada is excluded from participation in World Juniors semifinals action, but Finland hopes to ride that momentum against the tournament’s best team.

Sweden vs Finland

The Swedes goaltender Linus Soderstrom is arguably this year’s WJC best goalie. The New York Islanders prospect is coming off a shutout in the quarterfinals, and will be tested by a high-powered offense backed by the home crowd. He’s boasting a 1.27 goals against average, with a .951 save percentage.

On the back-end, Marcus Pettersson, Gustav Forsling, and Jacob Larsson will have to be Sweden’s best defenders against Finland. Larsson will likely play a shut-down role against Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine.

Up front, Sweden lost its best player in game one, William Nylander, who’s yet to play since suffering a headshot. Surprisingly, his younger brother Alex emerged as the Swede’s most productive forward. Stand-out’s at this year’s tournament include Adrian Kempe, Dmytro Timashov, Oskar Lindblom, and Jens Looke. These are the players that will need to continue to shine if Sweden looks to defeat host country Finland on Monday.

Finland deserves credit for its high-octane offense, and underrated defense core. It’s goaltending on the other hand has been disappointing. The Fins will likely turn to Kaapo Kahkonen on Monday, in hopes that he can offer a better performance than Veini Vehvilainen (Finland’s preliminary starter).

There was reason to question Finland’s back-end heading into the tournament, but it’s unnecessarily targeted as “weak”. The Fin’s blueline emerged as one of the tournament’s best with Olli Juolevi leading the way offensively. Joni Tuulola and Niko Mikkola were defensive studs, while Sami Niku and Villi Saarijarvi proved quality two-way defenders.

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Finland’s offensive group was an offensive juggernaut led by 2016 NHL draft eligible prospects Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine. The pair’s performance will give scouts reasons to second guess themselves on whether Auston Matthews is the number one pick in June. It won’t happen, but the duo have played so well, it’s difficult to imagine either sliding out of the top five at next year’s draft. Experts have given Puljujarvi comparisons to Anaheim’s Corey Perry. Laine plays a similar game to fellow Finnish NHL’er Aleksander Barkov.

Among other standouts for Finland are Sebastien Aho, Aleksi Saarela, Roope Hintz, and Julius Nattinen.

Kasperi Kapanen has just two points thus far. He’ll need to be at his best on Monday if Finland wants to defeat Sweden.

Prediction:

Sweden 4 Finland 3 (OT)

SWE – D.Timashov, A.Nylander, C.Ehn, J.Looke
FIN – P.Laine, O.Juolevi, M.Rantanen

Russia vs. United States

The Russians turned to Alexander Georgiev as their starter in-goal this year. He’s played fairly well, while 2015 Washington Capitals first rounder Ilya Samsonov serves as backup. Samsonov appeared in one game, allowing just one goal. Russia will need its goaltending to be at its best Monday, if any hope of defeating the Americans. The Russians would be wise to turn to Samsonov, who has game-stealing abilities.

On the blueline, Ivan Provorov, as expected is Russia’s top defender. Surprisingly, their defense core is defensively sound. Not a flashy group of d-men, but responsible in their own end, making a solid first pass out of the zone.

Up front, points leaders are Igor Korshkov (6), Vladislav Kamenev (5), Maxim Lazarev (5), and Artur Lauta (5). Other offensive performers include Radel Fazleev, Kirill Kaprizov, and Alexander Dergachyov. Perhaps the most surprising storyline for Russia is the underwhelming performance of Evgeni Svechnikov. He has the talent to dominate at this type of tournament, yet is putting up goose-eggs across the board after five games.

Next to Sweden’s Linus Soderstrom, Alex Nedeljkovic is the only other goaltender that could challenge as the tournament’s top goaltender. The Hurricanes prospect opened the World Juniors by single-handedly stealing the first game against the Canadians.

Zach Werenski is the stand-out offensive defender on a strong American blueline, with seven points in five games. A few years of development strengthening his defensive play, and the Blue Jackets will have a gem two-way defender. Among the American defenders that play a better all-around game on the blueline, Brandon Carlo, Will Borgen, Louis Belpedio, and Brandon Fortunato lead the way.

Next: World Juniors Quarterfinals: Losers Wrap-Up

Like Finland, the United States are led by a pair of 2016 NHL draft eligible forwards in Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk. Both have proven their worth, with Matthews destined to go number one, and Tkachuk looking to go somewhere in the top five (top 10 at worst). Other American forwards standing out thus far are Christian Dvorak, Colin White, Nick Schmaltz, and Sonny Milano. The United States arguably have the deepest group of forwards among any team remaining in the World Juniors. With four lines of talent that can step up at any time, the Russians will need to be at their best on Monday.

Prediction:

United States 5 Russia 2

USA – A.Matthews (2), M.Tkachuk, C.Dvorak, A.DeBrincat
RUS – A.Dergachyov, K.Kaprizov