Team Czechia overcame a late deficit to defeat Team France 6-3 in their Group A preliminary round game at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. David Pastrnak and Martin Necas each recorded a goal and an assist in the victory at Santagiulia Arena in Milan. The win provides a bounce-back for Czechia after a 5-0 loss to Canada the previous day.
Team Czechia secured its first victory of the tournament with a 6-3 comeback against Team France on Friday at Santagiulia Arena. The game, part of the men's hockey preliminary round in Group A, saw Czechia take an early lead before France mounted a comeback in the second period.
Martin Necas opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 5:56 of the first period, assisted by David Pastrnak, making it 1-0. Michal Kempny extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:04 with a slap shot from inside the blue line.
France responded in the second period. Louis Boudon scored on a power-play rebound at 1:01 to make it 2-1, then tied the game at 2-2 at 4:04 on a 2-on-1 after forcing a turnover. Hugo Gallet gave France a 3-2 lead at 5:54.
Czechia fought back, with Pastrnak tying the score at 3-3 at 13:23 on a wraparound attempt. Matej Stransky then scored the go-ahead short-handed goal at 19:28, taking a stretch pass from Filip Hronek, exchanging passes with Radek Faksa, and burying the puck for a 4-3 advantage.
In the third period, Filip Chlapik made it 5-3 at 1:05 after a rebound from Necas' shot. Roman Cervenka sealed the win with a backhand breakaway goal at 1:53, prompting France to replace goaltender Martin Neckar with Julian Junca.
Pastrnak, Necas, Kempny, and Stransky each tallied a goal and an assist, while Faksa and Hronek had two assists apiece. Dan Vladar made nine saves for Czechia. For France, Boudon had two goals and an assist, and Charles Bertrand added two assists. Neckar allowed six goals on 26 shots.
"We had a great first period of the game, bad second period," Faksa said. "We have to learn for the next game and we have to be better in [the] second."
France captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare noted, "Being in the Olympics and you lead 3-2 against the Czechs, it's just unfortunate that we had a little bit of rookie mistakes... That can't happen at that level."
This marks France's first Olympic appearance since 2002 and their first winless tournament since 1998. Czechia, with three points, ties Switzerland for second in Group A behind Canada. Czechia next faces Switzerland on Sunday at 6:10 a.m. ET, while France plays Canada at 10:40 a.m. ET.
