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The United States gets a bye into the quarterfinals but will most likely face a tough opponent in Sweden. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
The Athletic has live coverage of USA vs. Sweden in the 2026 Olympic women’s hockey semifinals.
MILAN — A common refrain in the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena mixed zone over the past couple of days, as chatter about goal differential and quarterfinal seeding increased, was that to get to the gold-medal game here in Milan, you’re going to have to beat a great team at some point. And if you’re one of the gold-or-bust teams in the tournament, does it really matter when?
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In the final game of the group stage on Sunday night, the Americans needed to beat Germany by 10 goals in order to pass Canada for the No. 1 seed. They didn’t come close, beating Germany 5-1 in methodical fashion. As the No. 2 seed but winner of Group C, the United States still gets a bye into the quarterfinal. However, instead of a second-tier opponent, it will likely draw Sweden, which surprisingly fell to the No. 7 seed.
“We just wanted to win so we could win the group,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “We never talked once about top seed at all. Seeding stuff, all that handles itself, right? You’re going to play everybody if you want to win your ultimate goal. But our goal coming in was to go 3-0 in group play, check that box and move on, don’t have to play in the play-in stuff. We accomplished that and we have a lot more to accomplish now.”
Captain Auston Matthews scored two goals and added an assist, defensemen Zach Werenski and Brock Faber and forward Tage Thompson scored the other goals, Matthew Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson had two assists apiece and Matt Boldy had eight of the Americans’ 37 shots.
“The confidence just continues to grow within our group,” Matthews said. “The chemistry, just being comfortable with one another, playing with new guys that maybe you’re not as used to playing with — each game I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction of where we want to grow our game going into the quarterfinals and it’s good to see.”
Slovakia’s surprising first-place finish in Group B has turned the tournament somewhat on its ear. The upshot is we could be in for some dynamite quarterfinal matchups. Canada, as the No. 1 seed, will get the winner of Czechia vs. Denmark, and the United States, as the No. 2 seed, will get the winner of Sweden vs. Latvia. Canada-Czechia and U.S.-Sweden are medal-level matchups, the Olympic equivalent of the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars meeting in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. Someone’s going home earlier than expected.
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In the other qualification games, Germany will face France, with the winner getting No. 3 Slovakia, while Switzerland will face Italy, with the winner getting No. 4 Finland.
The qualification games will be held on Tuesday, with the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The semifinals are Friday, and the medal games are Saturday and Sunday.
“I think the best from our group is still yet to come,” said Jack Eichel.
To be blunt, the Americans’ worst line in a tournament-opening win over Latvia was the top line of Jake Guentzel-Matthews-Boldy. The coaches weren’t happy with the trio, especially Matthews.
Well, the captain’s play keeps getting better and better, as does the line.
“Auston’s game is building,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s getting better with every game, and those guys are building chemistry. … Jake and Bolds are elite players in their own right. And there’s a lot of different skill sets on that line. We felt like that line had a chance to be a really strong line for us. And I think they’re getting better with every game that we played. We’ve exercised some patience with that group, because we feel like those guys are capable, and we try to give them an opportunity to build a little bit of chemistry, and I think it’s unfolding right in front of us. Tonight was their best game on both sides of the puck.”
Matthews has been coming on strong of late, starting with an excellent third period against Denmark on Saturday night. When he gets going, it gives the Americans a one-two punch down the middle in Eichel and Matthews that can rival what even Canada can offer.
“He’s been great all tournament,” Guentzel said. “You guys put a lot of heat on him for no reason. He’s just an unbelievable player and he plays in all situations.”
Added Werenski, “He does a lot of things really well even when he’s not producing that people might not notice. Everyone’s always focused on his goal scoring — and rightfully so, he’s one of the best goal-scorers in the world. But since we’ve been here he’s been such a leader for us, the way he plays the game, he plays the right way, he’s always getting chances, he’s winning faceoffs. And tonight it’s nice to see him get rewarded.”
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Connor Hellebuyck, in his second start of the tournament, recorded 23 saves for the victory. He has allowed two goals in two games and has surely earned the right to be the Americans’ No. 1 heading into the medal round.
Asked how close he feels to peak form, Hellebuyck said, laughing, “Is there more than a hundred percent? No, I feel good. It’s pretty hot out there. I’m sweating a lot now. I guess I’m at 99 percent right as we speak. But yeah, I feel good out there.”
Sullivan made it clear performance would dictate which of his three solid goalies would earn the right to be the starter in such a short tournament.
Jake Oettinger, the backup for Hellebuyck at the 4 Nations and relegated to No. 3 to start the tournament, backed up Hellebuyck on Sunday after being scratched the night before for Jeremy Swayman. But Swayman gave up three goals in the win and one would think Oettinger will now get to caddy for Hellebuyck the rest of the way.
“His rebound control, he swallowed everything,” Sullivan said. “There were no rebounds for Germany to have an opportunity to create a next play. I thought this was his very best. You could feel his confidence from the bench just watching him make the saves.”
If the Americans aren’t careful, they’re going to set some kind of record for disallowed goals in a short tournament.
One game after the U.S. had back-to-back Quinn Hughes and Brock Nelson goals overturned via challenges for offside and goalie interference, referee Wes McCauley waved off Eichel’s goal near the end of the first period after he blew the whistle to protect goalie Maximilian Franzreb after he lost his blocker and had his hand exposed after Tkachuk was pushed to the ice by way of the crease.
The fans weren’t happy. Nor was the United States bench. Didn’t matter: After the ensuing offensive-zone faceoff, Werenski snapped a 0-0 tie with 8.7 seconds left in the first period.
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It just wouldn’t be a Team USA first period without an embarrassing gaffe.
A night after Swayman let in a goal from Pisa, Matthews and Jack Hughes crashed into each other going after a Quinn Hughes drop pass during a first-period power play. Matthews cut across the ice, but Quinn Hughes left the drop pass for where he had been, not looking over his shoulder until releasing the puck. Jack Hughes started moving toward the pass but got steamrolled by the much bigger Matthews. Hughes got up quickly and got the puck to safety as two Germans rushed in after it.
At last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Winnipeg Jets sniper Kyle Connor started on the first line, was quickly downgraded to the fourth line and ultimately ended up scratched in the final against Canada.
It was a decision largely panned, especially because Chris Kreider only played 6 ½ minutes in that final game and the staff had to know the injured Tkachuk was questionable to get through the game (6:47 of ice time). The Americans went on to lose in overtime.
Well, Connor was given a fresh start and made this Olympic team, starting the tournament on an appealing line with Dylan Larkin and World Championships hero Tage Thompson. Two games into the tournament, however, Connor has no shots on goal and was replaced by Clayton Keller Sunday night for his Olympic debut.
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