The American side prevailed over their arch rivals in the shootout after fighting back from 3-1 down in normal time at the Ice Palace Dmitrov.

Kelly Browne netted a late equaliser before Makenna Webster scored the winning penalty to send her side through to the tournament's showpiece encounter.

Sweden await for the US in tomorrow's final after they earned a narrow 2-1 win against Russia, much to the disappointment of the partisan home crowd inside the arena.

The US, who thrashed Canada 6-2 in the group stages earlier this week, broke the deadlock against the run of play in the first period when Taylor Heise found the net.

Zoe Boyd restored parity for the Canadians at the end of the stanza and two goals in the second turned the match on its head.

Allexis Adzija reacted quickest to give Canada the lead before Emily Rickwood extended their advantage to 3-1.

Casey O’Brien cut the deficit to one goal early in the third period before Browne levelled for the US with 10 minutes to go.

Neither side were able to find a winner in the late stages or in overtime, meaning the semi-final had to be decided by a shootout.

With the momentum behind them, the US managed to scrape over the line thanks to 15-year-old Webster's game-clinching goal.

"When we came in, maybe we were a bit down," said Webster.

"So we put one of our songs on and everybody was up and dancing.

"After that, we knew we could save the game and we showed that in the third period."

Switzerland kept their place in the top tier of the sport at under-18 women's level as they relegated Germany by beating their European counterparts 3-0.

The win for the Swiss wrapped up a 2-0 series success.