Tomas Suchanek (2023 draft eligible) made 35 saves for Czechia, which was playing in the gold-medal game for the first time since winning back-to-back championships in 2000 and 2001. It won its sixth WJC silver medal and first since 1987. It last medaled in 2005 (bronze).
Guenther gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 12:41 of the first period on a slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle.
Shane Wright (Seattle Kraken) made it 2-0 on his 19th birthday at 4:35 of the second period. After taking a pass from Guenther along the right-wing boards, the Canada captain skated into the zone, shielded the puck away from forward Adam Mechura (2023 draft eligible) and beat defenseman Stanislav Svozil (Columbus Blue Jackets) before scoring on a backhand low in the right circle.
"It's pretty cool. It hasn't even sunk in yet," Wright said. "It's my birthday, just won a gold medal at the World Juniors and it's an unbelievable feeling."
Czechia was the first team in the tournament to hold Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft, without a point.
"It was an unbelievable tournament by [Bedard]," Wright said. "I'm running out of things to say about how unbelievable his whole performance was this entire tournament, how mature he has been and how much of a good teammate he's been to every single guy."
Bedard led all scorers and set a WJC record for points (23; nine goals, 14 assists) by a 17-year-old, breaking the mark set by Jaromir Jagr (18 points; five goals, 13 assists) in 1990. Bedard was named the tournament MVP and its top forward.
"We obviously talked about Bedard because he's got a lot of points in this tournament and is a real threat," Czechia forward Gabriel Szturc said. "So, we tried to kind of eliminate him. Every time he's got the puck, we put our stick on puck, and just don't give him a space. He didn't have a point, but Canada has guys that are very skilled, some playing in the NHL.
"So, this team was very good and unfortunately they beat us. It's not very good for us, but still I'm very proud of this team, what we've done."
NOTES: Canada had nine first-round NHL Draft picks on its roster; Czechia had two. … The United States defeated Sweden 8-7 in overtime in the bronze-medal game Thursday.