The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are underway, and the action in the highly anticipated men’s ice hockey tournament is heating up. 

Team USA now has a 2-0 record after defeating Latvia and Denmark in their first two games. Now, the team will face the German men’s hockey team in their next preliminary round matchup. 

As if the men’s ice hockey tournament wouldn’t have already been a hyped event at the Winter Olympics, this is the first time NHL players have participated since the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. 

Team USA will be trying to get its first gold medal win in men’s ice hockey since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ win at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. 

Here are the odds for their matchup against Germany as of Feb. 14. 

USA vs Germany Odds

Currently, Team USA is set as a 3.5-point favorite to win its preliminary game against Germany. The Team USA moneyline is also set quite high, with them being favored at -1400. 

The over/under for the game is set at 6.5. 

USA vs Germany Prediction

After cruising to a 2-0 record against the Latvians and the Danes, this American men’s hockey team will face a tougher test in their Sunday matchup against Germany. 

The main reason for that: Leon Draisaitl. 

While Team Denmark are upset specialists — with their performance at the 2025 IIHF tournament and their 2-1 lead after the first period today — and Team Latvia has some NHL talent on its roster, Team USA hasn’t faced a player like Draisaitl yet in this tournament. And probably won’t again if or when they play Team Canada in the next round.

Draisaitl, a Hart Trophy winner in 2020, is one of the NHL’s best with 29 goals and 51 assists through 55 games played this season. 

I don’t know if this is the time or the place for this argument but one could make a case that Draisaitl is a better player than anyone on the American roster.

There isn’t a crazy dropoff after Draisaitl. The Germans also have a stable of premier pro talent, including Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider, Utah forward JJ Peterka, and Ottawa forward Tim Stutzle.

However, Team Germany only has a 1-1 record after a 3-1 over Denmark in their first game and a 4-3 loss against Latvia on Saturday.

Even if Draisaitl is a perennial MVP candidate, he probably can’t win the game by himself.  

I still predict Team USA to come out of this one with a victory, but it may be closer than their two previous wins in the tournament. 

As far as the over goes in this game, the over did not hit in the first matchup, but it did on Saturday when the Americans won 6-3 over Team Denmark. 

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