The Finnish side will go up against Russia for the gold medal after they beat the United States by the same scoreline in the day’s second semi-final.

The unbeaten Swedes  took the lead midway through the first period as Rasmus Apslund diverted the puck home following good work from Dmytro Timashov.

Chances were few and far between in a cagey opening until Finland equalised 11 minutes in to the second period thanks to Roope Hintz, who came out on top in his one-on-one battle with Sweden goalkeeper Linus Soderstrom.

That gave the host country fresh impetus and they turned the contest on its head when Antti Kalapudas fired a rasping wrist-shot into the net.

Kalapudas’ effort was the first time Sweden had been behind throughout the whole tournament and they were unable to launch a comeback as Finland secured their spot in tomorrow’s gold medal match.

“Once again, we were down by a goal in the game, but rallied back and won it,” Finnish forward Sebastian Aho said.

“I think that says everything about the character of this team.”

Finland will be seeking their third World Junior title, having previously won the title in 1987, 1998 and 2014. 

In the other semi-final, Russia also rallied from a goal behind as they edged the United States 2-1 in another closely-fought encounter.

Christian Dvorak opened the scoring in the first period as he rounded off a well-worked move with a cool finish to give the Americans the best possible start.

Russia, who survived a scare in their quarter-final with narrow 4-3 win over outsiders Denmark, were trailing until midway through the second stanza whenPavel Kraskovski levelled with a rebound effort.

As the second period was coming to an end, Yegor Korshkov went on a mazy solo skate, capping it off with a neat finish to send Russia through to the final, where they will be hoping to claim their first gold medal since 2011.