World Junior 2015: Canada beats Slovakia thanks to Nic Petan hat trick, faces Russia for gold on Monday

TORONTO — It will be Canada against Russia for world junior gold.

Team Canada broke down Team Slovakia for a 5-1 semifinal win on Sunday, with tournament scoring leader Nic Petan scoring a hat trick that included two top-shelf tallies on setups from top NHL draft prospect Connor McDavid. Defenceman Shea Theodore also buried a breakaway goal during a wild final few minutes of the second period in front of a roaring crowd, as Canada pulled away from a determined underdog and tireless goaltender Denis Godla.

Fans began to chant, "We want Russia!" around the 11-minute mark of the third period, shortly before Petan potted his hat-trick goal and tournament-leading 11th point.  

The historical rivals will face off for gold on Monday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. It's the first Canada-Russia final since 2011.

Petan, a Winnipeg Jets prospect who plays for the Portland Winterhawks, got the icebreaker just 4:27 into the game. After Curtis Lazar and McDavid gained the zone, Petan took McDavid's pass and put a shoot over Godla's shoulder.

The teams settled into a cautious first period.

In the second, goalie Zach Fucale made a right pad save to turn back Pavol Skalicky on a breakaway after a point shot was blocked and ricocheted by defencemen Madison Bowey and Josh Morrissey. Spurred by the big save, Canada gained control of the play as the period unfolded, but Godla responded with a string of quality saves.

At 18:06, Nurse and McDavid initiated a Canadian counter-attack. McDavid fought through some heavy stickwork in the Slovakia zone and shovelled a pass to Petan, who went upstairs.

McDavid's three assists gave him 10 points in the tournament, tied for second with teammate Sam Reinhart.

With 28.3 seconds left in the period, Anthony Duclair poked the puck ahead to Theodore, who deked Godla for a 3-0 lead. Canada pressured off the enusing faceoff, but Bowey was caught in deep when the puck rocketed out of the zone, leading to a 3-on-1 rush. David Soltes finished off with 3.4 seconds left to get Slovakia on the scoreboard.

Canada, however, controlled the final 20 minutes. Duclair, who was stymied on several chances over the more recent games, banked the puck in off Godla to re-open a three-goal spread 2:47 into the period.

Russia has dealt Canada its final loss in four conseuctive world junior tourneys, also winning the 2012 semifinal and '13 and '14 bronze-medal games.

Sweden and Slovakia meet for the bronze medal at 4 p.m. on Monday. Sweden is seeking its seventh medal in the last eight years. Slovakia's only medal is a bronze in 1999 in Winnipeg.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.