Lucius completes hat trick in OT as U.S. beats Sweden for world junior bronze

Chaz Lucius completed a hat trick in overtime as the United States beat Sweden 8-7 in a wild bronze-medal game Thursday at the world junior hockey championship in Halifax.

The Winnipeg Jets prospect scored in the three-on-three sudden-death period when he flipped a backhand over Swedish goaltender Carl Lindbom.

Lindbom had stopped an initial chance from Lane Hutson, but the rebound went unclaimed until Lucius swept in and clinched a game that saw the U.S., which was coming off a 6-2 loss to Canada in a semifinal on Wednesday, give up multiple leads before finally prevailing.

"We were not really happy with losing Canada. But it is what it is and right when we got out of the locker room [Wednesday], we said, 'You know what? We've have you got a medal [on the line]," U.S. captain Luke Hughes said.

Cutter Gauthier had two goals for the Americans, who have won a medal in six of the last eight world juniors. Logan Cooley, Ryan Ufko and Hughes also scored.

"It's not the game we want to be in," Lucius said. "But overall it's a really memorable experience."

Game winner in OT and a hat trick for Chaz Lucius.