In the end, the law of hockey probabilities caught up with Cinderella.
Sweden will face the winner of the Canada-Russia tilt in Monday's World Junior Championship gold medal game after surviving a scare at the hands of plucky Slovakia.
Though the Swedes won the game 5-3, the margin was anything but comfortable against a team still riding high from its upset of a powerful United States squad in Friday's quarter-final.
Despite firing 50 shots at Slovak goalie Jaroslav Janus — perhaps the revelation of the tournament — the heavily-favoured Swedes needed a power-play marker and an ugly goal to outdistance their indisputably game opposition.
As Sweden coach Per Marts drily said of the suspense surrounding the game: "I don't think Alfred Hitchcock could have done it better."
Nevertheless, Sweden did enough to return to the gold medal game for a second successive year, where it hopes to snap a 28-year gold medal drought.
"We didn't perform at our top level, but we showed we could come back in a game and win it," said defenceman Eric Karlsson, an Ottawa Senators draft who led all scorers with three assists. "It proves we have the psychological things we need to turn a game over."
As they did against the U.S., the Slovaks appeared to confound Sweden with their spirited play, solid defensive coverage, and stellar goaltending.
And again as they did against the Americans, Slovakia jumped out to a slightly fortunate lead — scoring with 3.6 seconds left in the first — despite being outplayed.
Janus, who plays with the Ontario Hockey League's Erie Otters, looked as if he hadn't dared to change out of his gear after the U.S. game, and played the first period against Sweden as if there had only been a short intermission between it and the final period against the Americans.
"We could have won this game, but in the third period we stopped playing for like five minutes, and they scored four goals. It's very sad," said Janus, who went undrafted last year, who will now lead his team on Monday in the bronze medal game.
The last time the two countries faced each other in the medal round of the World Juniors — in a semi-final in 1999 — the Slovaks prevailed, but this year against a stacked Swedish team that was among the pre-tournament favourites, their luck ran out.
Despite some shaky play in the early stages, Sweden goalie Jacob Markstrom, the most dominant backstop in the tournament, turned in some key saves and the team scored three goals in a four-minute third period span to overcome a 2-1 deficit.
But even as they fell behind 4-2 to a Swedish side that was gaining in confidence and fluency with each rush up the ice, the Slovaks battled.
Indeed, Slovakia coach Stefan Mikes pulled Janus with more than four minutes remaining in a bid to narrow the gap.
The improbable tactic worked a treat, as offensive sparkplug Tomas Tatar — who is eligible for the upcoming draft — tallied his second of the game and sixth goal of the tournament, which left him second on the scoring list behind Canadian sensation John Tavares going into the evening Canada-Russia tilt.
But it wasn't to be as Swedish captain Oscar Moller, who has played 30 games this season for the Los Angeles Kings, settled the issue with a late empty-net goal.
"The third period was a lot more fun, that's for sure," a relieved Moller said.
Highly-touted defenceman Victor Hedman — seen by some as a rival to Tavares for the distinction of being the first overall draft pick in 2009 — was largely anonymous, although he did his best to get involved offensively with a magnificent third-period rush that saw him stymied by Janus.
Still, Hedman did no harm to his standing with an assured display.
