MILAN — As the preliminary round continues in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the battle of the day belonged to two Nordic rivals.
Eight teams played their second game Friday, headlined by Sweden and Finland meeting in Group B action. The Finland vs. Sweden is a rivalry that’s as big as the USA-Canada one, and the Finns got the better of the Swedes on Friday, 4-1. Earlier this week, the teams’ respective social media accounts had fun posting video of players being asked, “say something nice” about the other team.
Most of the answers were players smiling and saying they couldn’t come up with anything.
In the other games, Canada beat Switzerland to improve to 2-0, Slovakia also earned its second win, getting the better of Italy, and Czechia beat France for its first victory of the tournament.
Here’s a look at Olympic men’s hockey action for Friday, Feb. 13:
The Finns brought out their best against Nordic neighbor Sweden to secure a much-needed victory in Group B action. The Finns, who lost in regulation to Slovakia in their first game, outplayed the Swedes in every aspect at Milano Santaguilia Hockey Arena.
“I don’t think it takes a lot to get up for this game ever, really,” Finnish defenseman Olli Määttä said. “It’s been 12 years since we played in the Olympics, so we didn’t really have to search for anything, really. Everybody was fired up for this, and I’m sure they were too. These are unbelievable games to play in, and I’m very happy with the win today. We’ve just got to build off that.”
A low point for Sweden came during a power play in the second period, when three Swedes were busy along the boards trying to get the puck away from Erik Haula. Instead the puck squirted loose and Joel Armia took advantage of being wide open to score on Filip Gustavsson.
“I think it’s obviously tough in the Olympics,” William Nylander said. “I thought we were able to generate some chances today to score and their goalie played well. That was tougher for us. We didn’t play our game for the full 60. There were snippets in there where we weren’t playing at our best and they were able to capitalize.”
Nikolas Matinpalo and Anton Lundell made it 2-0 for Finland in the first period. Rasmus Dahlin pulled the Swedes within a goal from when scored on a power play from the blue line, set up by William Nylander and Lucas Raymond.
The second period ended with scrums as the Swedes showed their frustration, engaging in pushing and shoving. The Swedes put on the pressure in the third period, but Juuse Saros came up with 17 saves among 34 total.
“He played such a good game today,” Finland’s Anton Lundell said. “He kept us alive and took some big game-savers when we needed them and gave us a reason to win.”
Mikko Rantanen sealed the victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Finland and Sweden each have one victory and one loss after two games.
Slovakia downed host Italy in action at Rho Arena to improve to 2-0 and lead Group B standings with 6 points. All Slovakia needs is one more point to secure the top spot in the group.
Libor Hudacek, Matus Sukel and Adam Rucizka scored for Slovakia. Matt Bradley and Dustin Gazley scored for Italy, which fell to 0-2 in group play.
The Slovaks upset Finland in the opener, and play their last preliminary game Saturday against Sweden.
It looked like it would be a one-sided game when Czechia scored twice in the opening 13 minutes, on goals from Martin Necas and Michael Kempny, but the French did what they could to make a game of it in the second period.
Louis Boudon scored one minute into the period, and again around the four-minute mark. Cheers from the French fans at Santaguilia Arena erupted again two minutes later when Hugo Gallet put France in the lead, 3-2.
Goals from David Pastrnak and Matej Stransky put the Czechs ahead by the end of the period, and Filip Chlapik and Roman Cervenka put the game away in the third period.
Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and two assists, and Sidney Crosby scored as Canada improved to 2-0 and handed Switzerland its first loss. Logan Thompson got the start for Canada and made 24 saves.
Switzerland’s Kevin Fiala, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the third period when he landed awkwardly in a collision with Canada’s Tom Wilson.
All times Eastern
Peacock is streaming every game live.
The 12 teams are divided into three groups. They are:
Teams play one game each against the other three teams in their group. Countries get three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win, one for an overtime/shootout loss and zero for a regulation loss.
After the preliminary round is complete, teams are seeded 1 through 12 under the following criteria:
The top four teams (group winners and best second-place team) get a bye to the quarterfinals. Teams 5-12 play in a qualifying round, with the winners going to the quarterfinals.
Playoff qualification games are on Feb. 17, quarterfinals are Feb. 18 and semifinals are Feb. 20.
The bronze medal game is Feb. 21 and the gold medal game is Sunday, Feb. 22.
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