from Steven Ellis of The Hockey News,

The Russian Olympic Committee needed some shootout heroics to beat Sweden 2-1 on Friday.

It's the second consecutive gold medal appearance for the Russians, who, under the Olympic Athletes of Russia banner, beat Germany for the title in South Korea in 2018.

Since breaking off from the Soviet Union, Russia, or teams affiliated with it, have won two other medals - a silver in 1998 and a bronze in 2002. Russia's last gold at an IIHF men's level under the "Russia" banner was at the 2014 World Championship in Minsk following a dominant 10-0 record....

It was a similar game to Finland's 1-0 shutout over Slovakia earlier in the day, with neither team taking many risks in a defensive-minded game.

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The gold medal game will be played Friday night at 11:10pm ET.