World junior championship: Russia, Sweden brawl at final buzzer (VIDEO)

On the anniversary of the Piestany Punchup, a Malmö Melee might have repercussions for the world junior championship gold-medal game.

Sweden-Russia, with all due respect to Canada-United States, might be the fiercest rivalry at the under-20 level. Sweden's 2-1 escape in Saturday's semifinal was the sixth one-goal game between the rivals at the world junior, which includes the semifinal that Sweden won on Russian ice in 2013, along with 1-0 overtime gold-medal game in '12.

As time ran out, players began trading punches. Sweden's Jesper Pettersson, whose slashing penalty with 19 seconds left had given Russia a larger ray of late hope, also tore out of the penalty box to get involved. That might warrant scrutiny from international hockey officials.

From Brad MacArthur (@bradmacarthur):

TSN's video shows more of the build-up. Sweden's Oskar Sundqvist, the Pittsburgh Penguins third-round draft pick who scored the game-winning goal, was cross-checked into the boards. That seemed to set everything off.

Pettersson and Russia defenceman Andrei Mironov, at this writing, got off with two-minute roughing penalties. Each team had a top defenceman receive a slashing penalty after some stick-swinging at the buzzer, with Sweden's Robert Hagg, a Philadelphia Flyers second-rounder, and Russia's Nikita Zadorov, a Buffalo Sabres first-rounder, each being assessed penalties.

"It was just emotions," a downcast Zadorov told reporters.

Pettersson, excuse the editorializing, ought to be in the hottest water for leaving the penalty box. That's a no-no by any protocol, regardless of who initiated the bad behaviour.

Speaking of which, by the way, it was the second Russia game in a row that will have some he-started-it finger-pointing over an incident that occurred right after the game was decided. There was plenty of blame to be shared after Team USA's Ryan Hartman reached out from the bench to whap Russia's Pavel Buchnevich with his stick following a game-sealing empty-net goal.

Fighting in international hockey is strictly prohibited. This was a relatively minor skirmish compared to the infamous Canada-Soviet Union brawl in 1987 that led to each team being disqualified. There is little knowing how the International Ice Hockey Federation, which banished Canada's Griffin Reinhart for four games for an arguably accidental high stick in the 2013 tourney, will rule. Letting Pettersson off could look like there was an unwilliingness to go by the book.

Sweden will face the Canada-Finland victor in the final on Sunday (TSN/RDS 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT). Russia is playing in the bronze-medal game.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.