Slovakia defeated defending champion finland 4-1 on wednesday to kick off the men's hockey tournament at the 2026 winter olympics in milan. Juraj slafkovsky scored twice for the slovaks, while samuel hlavaj made 39 saves in the upset win. In the later game, sweden overcame an early deficit to beat host italy 5-2, with victor hedman scoring his first olympic goal.
The men's hockey tournament at the olympic winter games milano cortina 2026 began wednesday at santagiulia arena in milan, italy, marking the nhl's return to the olympics after a 12-year absence.
In the opener, slovakia stunned finland 4-1 in group b. Montreal canadiens forward juraj slafkovsky opened the scoring at 7:45 of the first period, capitalizing on a finnish turnover to go around nashville predators goalie juuse saros and tuck the puck into an empty net. Finland tied it in the second on eeli tolvanen's goal at 4:15, assisted by joel armia and artturi lehkonen.
Slovakia pulled ahead in the third when dalibor dvorsky scored at 7:20, followed by slafkovsky's power-play goal at 10:30, assisted by simon nemec and dvorsky. Adam ruzicka added an empty-netter at 17:39, assisted by tomas tatar and slafkovsky. Minnesota wild prospect samuel hlavaj stopped 39 of 40 shots, including 18 in the first period, setting a team record for saves in an nhl-era olympic game.
"He was fantastic all game long," dvorsky said of hlavaj. "He made some huge saves that most goalies can't make."
Slafkovsky, who scored seven goals en route to bronze in 2022, now has nine olympic goals in eight games. "It's a great feeling," he said. "It gives a huge confidence boost, but we have to rest and do it again."
In the evening game, sweden rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat italy 5-2. Italy's luca frigo scored first at 4:14, but gabriel landeskog tied it on the power play at 9:06, assisted by mika zibanejad and erik karlsson. Gustav forsling gave sweden a 2-1 lead at 17:53.
Italy tied it early in the second with matthew bradley's goal at 0:37, but william nylander scored the game-winner at 16:46. Zibanejad made it 4-2 at 15:42 in the third, and tampa bay lightning captain victor hedman sealed it with an empty-net goal at 17:11.
Hedman led sweden with 21:12 time on ice and said, "Phenomenal. Nerves." Italy's damian clara, a 21-year-old anaheim ducks prospect, made 46 saves before leaving with an injury.
These results set the stage for thursday's games, including canada vs. czechia and the u.s. vs. latvia. The top four teams advance directly to quarterfinals on feb. 18.
