MILAN — NHL players are back in the Winter Olympics, and the competition got underway Wednesday with two preliminary round games.
In the first game, Slovakia topped Finland, 4-1, at Santaguilia Ice Hockey Arena. In evening action, Sweden knocked off host Italy 5-2. Finland is the defending champion after winning the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Canada leads the NHL era (1998 to 2014) with gold medals in 2002, 2010 and 2014. Czechia won in 1998 (Nagano) and Sweden in 2006 (Torino).
The USA won silver medals in 2002 and 2010. It last won a gold medal in 1980 at the Lake Placid Olympics. The Americans begin their preliminary round Thursday against Latvia.
Here are scores from today as games wrap up.
Olympic Games host Italy gave their adoring fans reasons to cheer in their first preliminary outing of the men’s tournament. The only team in the 12-member-deep event without a single NHL player scored first against hockey powerhouse Sweden, and never folded.
“It’s a European team against the best NHL players,” Italy coach Jukka Jalone said. “It was very difficult too anticipate what’s going on, what would happen. But now after the game, I’m very happy with how we played.”
While Sweden boasted superstars the likes of Gabriel Landeskog, William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad and Victor Hedman (all of whom scored), the Italians got by on a goals from Luca Frigo and Matt Bradley.
But that was just the skaters. Italy’s hero was 21-year-old goaltender Damian Clara, who due to injury left with about 14 minutes to play and was replaced by backup Davide Fadani.
“It was indescribable,” said Italy captain Thomas Larkin. “We’ve been dreaming of this first game at home for years, not even knowing if it would come, when it would come. It’s really amazing, especially the support we got when we scored that first goal was absolutely unbelievable. It’s something that I’m sure I’ll remember for a long, long time.”
Small but mighty Slovakia defeated hockey powerhouse Finland in the first men’s preliminary round game. The Slovaks were carried by a heroic performance from goaltender Samuel Hlavaj, a 24-year-old minor-leaguer who made 39 saves.
“The atmosphere was electric, and I hope they’re going to keep coming like this,” Slovakia forward Tomas Tatar said. “It’s the first game, but to jump in with the win like this, this is huge.”
Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick overall in 2022 (Montreal Canadiens) put Slovakia on the board at 7:45 of the first period, one of only five shots the Slovakians had in that 20-minute span on NHL veteran Juuse Saros. The Finns, who had 18 shots in the first period, scored an equalizer, from Eli Tolvanen, early in the second period.
Dalibor Dvorskhy scored earl in the third period, and Slafkovsky followed up with his second goal during a power play. Slafkovsky also assisted on Adam Rucizka’s empty-net goal with 2:21 to play.
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:
International Ice Hockey Federation prohibits fighting, and it could lead to an ejection and a suspension.
“Fighting is not part of international ice hockey’s DNA,” the organization states in Rule 46 of the IIHF rulebook.
“Players who willingly, participate in a ‘brawl/fight’ so-called ‘willing combatants,’ shall be penalized accordingly by the referee(s) and may be ejected from the game,” the rulebook says. “Further supplementary discipline may be imposed.”
The NHL will take a break from Feb. 6-24 for the 2026 Winter Olympics. There are seven games on the schedule on Feb. 5. No trades can take place during the Olympic break.
The tournament starts Feb. 11 with two games. The USA opens play Feb. 12 against Latvia. All teams will play three games during the round robin, which runs through Feb. 15. The top four teams get byes to the quarterfinals.
Playoff qualification games are on Feb. 17 for teams ranked fifth through 12th, 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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