The U.S. men’s hockey team dismantled Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinal round of the Olympic tournament on Friday.
Team USA will face Canada in the gold medal game on Sunday, a final that’s been anticipated since it was announced that NHL players were returning to compete at the 2026 Olympics.
“I think it’s what everyone wanted, this matchup in the gold medal game, and I’ve thought about it a lot,” Dylan Larkin said after the game.
The U.S. narrowly escaped the quarterfinal round with a 2-1 overtime victory over Finland on Wednesday, and in Friday’s meeting with Slovakia it was clear they weren’t waiting until crunch time to decide this one.
Larkin got on the board for the United States just over four minutes into the game to give the Americans a 1-0 lead for most of the first period. It was the second time in a row that the Detroit Red Wings star opened the scoring for his team.
“It was great to see us get off to a fast start and I thought that was important,” U.S. head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Our group continues to take steps forward and it’s a really fun team to coach with an awful lot of personality.”
Tage Thompson added cushion with less than a minute to go in the first on the power play, to lead the team into the locker room up 2-0.