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3 reasons why the Americans were golden over the Canadians

Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images Sport / Getty

America: Great again. And a true hockey power.

The United States beat Canada in what's being called one of the greatest gold-medal games ever played at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Thursday, coming out on top 5-4 in a shootout. The U.S. finished the tournament a perfect 7-0.

It's the Americans' third gold in eight tries at the event this decade, tops among all participating nations. Finland's won twice, and Canada, Russia, and Sweden once.

It's the fourth gold medal for the U.S. at the world juniors overall, and the Americans improved to 3-1 against Canada with everything on the line - including 2-0 on Canadian soil.

Here are three reasons why the U.S. got it done Thursday:

Parsons was better than Hart

Joseph Woll was in goal - and played very well - when the Americans beat Canada on New Year's Eve. On Thursday, it was Tyler Parson's turn.

The U.S. went into the final with a marked advantage in goal, and Parsons outplaying Hart is the most critical reason why the Americans woke up smiling Friday morning, while the Canadians got no sleep.

Related: The Mid-Week Take: Canada needs a goaltending summit

Parsons was brilliant, especially late in the game and in overtime. He finished with 46 saves on 50 shots - good for a .958 save percentage - including 17 in the extra 20 minutes.

Hart stopped 31-of-36 shots, an .861 save percentage, and finished the tournament at a disappointing .9057, sixth among goalies who played at least four games. Parson's final line of .9167 ranked third.

Up 2-0 and 4-2, Hart wasn't able to make the big save when his team needed it most. And while the Canadian 'tender was strong in the shootout, stopping four of five shots, Parsons was better, perfect in fact, stopping all five Canadian shooters.

Gold medal on the line, and Parsons stepped up and grabbed it.

USA: The comeback kids

Canada blew a pair of two-goal leads. That fact makes what the U.S. accomplished - on Canadian ice, no less - that much more impressive.

And as Charlie McAvoy, the U.S.' player of the game, noted, not once did the U.S. think or display any signs that it was going to lose. Not when it was down 2-0, the U.S. coming out determined to start the second period, and not when it was down 4-2, after Canada scored two in just over two minutes less than five minutes into the third period.

And the U.S. came back fast. Down 2-0, its first two goals were scored in six-and-a-half minutes in the second period, and it struck for two in the third period in just over two minutes when facing a 4-2 hole.

It's cliche, but, backs against the wall, the U.S. responded. Twice. On the road. In what was for many of the kids the biggest game of their lives.

No panic, no quit. Full marks to the U.S. for getting to overtime, staying alive, and doing what it needed to do - scoring one goal to Canada's none in the shootout - to get the job done.

Canada faltered when it mattered most

You can't blow a two-goal lead in a gold-medal game. And you really can't blow two of them.

And yet, after watching its 4-2 lead evaporate in the third period only three minutes after again going up by two, Canada still had many chances to win it.

U.S. defenseman Casey Fitzgerald gifted the Canadians a power play with a delay of game penalty with less than nine minutes to play, but Canada was unable to convert. Looking at you, third overall pick in 2016, Pierre-Luc Dubois:

That one, which would have been the tournament winner, is going to haunt him for a long, long time.

While Canada did score one goal on the power play - Nicolas Roy's filthy snipe to make it 3-2 - it finished the game 1-for-6, and couldn't convert at the most opportune time.

Canada had a power play in overtime, too, after the U.S. was hit with a too many men call at the 6:44 mark.

There were chances. In the third period, overtime, and the shootout, in which Canada failed to score once. The Canadians came up empty when it mattered most.

The Americans didn't.

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