Team USA men’s ice hockey took another step in its pursuit of its first medal at the Winter Olympics in 16 years by defeating Sweden 2-1 in overtime Wednesday at Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy.
Local NHL teams, the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers were both well represented in this game: Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller represented the New York Rangers while Jacob Markstrom, Jack Hughes, and Jesper Bratt represented the New Jersey Devils.
First Period:
From puck-drop, this game was a physical one.
USA alternate captain Charlie McAvoy, who is from Long Beach, New York, let the Swedes know this by delivering two big hits: first, he laid out Joel Eriksson Ek behind his net and then, gave Gabriel Landeskog a jolt by the team USA bench and right in front of his father-in-law and team USA head coach Mike Sullivan.
Swedish defenseman Gustav Forsling took a two-minute penalty for slashing near the end of the period, but the USA could not capitalize.
Second Period:
At 6:50, Landeskog sent a backhand pass through the slot to the backdoor where it was one-timed by Lucas Raymond, but his shot was stopped by USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
That was the best scoring chance of the game to that point for Sweden.
The USA nearly took the lead at 11:33 when Matt Boldy made a pass in the air to USA captain, Auston Matthews, who knocked the puck over to Jake Guentzel who was driving to the far post. Guentzel snapped the puck quickly on goal but didn’t get enough on the shot to score thanks to the backchecking of Swedish forward Adrian Kempe.
At this point in the game, the USA started to take control of the game, using their speed to win battles for loose pucks and passing to sustain offensive zone time.
A couple of minutes later, USA center Dylan Larkin won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Quinn Hughes at the point. Hughes passed to his brother, Jack, who one-timed the puck on net from the point. Larkin was in front of the Swedish net and tipped the puck past Markstrom to give the USA the first lead of the game at 11:03. Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes assisted Larkin’s first Olympic goal.
Third Period:
Through two periods, it had been a well-played hockey game, with only two penalties taken by Sweden. That changed when Vincent Trocheck was called for tripping 2:35 into this period.
On the first Swedish power play of the game, J.T. Miller, captain of the New York Rangers, blocked a wicked slap shot from Rasmus Dahlin. This was a crucial play by the Rangers captain as it stopped the Swedes from potentially tying the game up early in the third period.
However, with just 1:31 remaining and an extra attacker on the ice for Sweden, Zibanejad tied the game by one-timing a pass from Raymond off the post and in, stunning the Americans who thought they had all but locked up a victory. Zibanejad’s third goal of the Olympics sent the quarter final into overtime.
Overtime:
The USA came out with energy and confidence in the 3-on-3 sudden death overtime period.
Two and a half minutes into the overtime period, Larkin pokechecked the puck away from Filip Forsberg and took the puck up ice on a 3-on-2 odd-man rush. Larkin made a drop-pass to Jack Hughes who shot it into the chest protector of his teammate Jacob Markstrom, who then smothered the puck.
Then, the final blow was dealt.
USA’s Quinn Hughes entered the offensive zone with the puck. He stopped at the half-boards and passed up to Boldy. Boldy passed it back to him and then skated straight to the front of the net, taking a Swedish player with him. This created just enough space for Quinn Hughes to step up into the slot and rip a wicked wrister that went off the post and in.
Hughes’ goal, assisted by Boldy and Matthews sends the USA into the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament semi-finals, where they will play Slovakia. That game is scheduled for February 20 at 3:10 p.m. ET.
