The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are underway, and the action in the highly anticipated men\u2019s ice hockey tournament is heating up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s hockey team in their next preliminary round matchup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As if the men\u2019s ice hockey tournament wouldn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Team USA will be trying to get its first gold medal win in men\u2019s ice hockey since the \u2018Miracle on Ice\u2019 win at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are the odds for their matchup against Germany as of Feb. 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n
USA vs Germany Odds<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The over\/under for the game is set at 6.5.\u00a0<\/p>\n
USA vs Germany Prediction<\/p>\n
After cruising to a 2-0 record against the Latvians and the Danes, this American men\u2019s hockey team will face a tougher test in their Sunday matchup against Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main reason for that: Leon Draisaitl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Team Denmark are upset specialists \u2014 with their performance at the 2025 IIHF tournament and their 2-1 lead after the first period today \u2014 and Team Latvia has some NHL talent on its roster, Team USA hasn\u2019t faced a player like Draisaitl yet in this tournament. And probably won\u2019t again if or when they play Team Canada in the next round.<\/p>\n
Draisaitl, a Hart Trophy winner in 2020, is one of the NHL\u2019s best with 29 goals and 51 assists through 55 games played this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Even if Draisaitl is a perennial MVP candidate, he probably can\u2019t win the game by himself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hockey Odds at BetMGM<\/p>\n
Are you seeking more hockey entertainment? Betting on hockey odds<\/a> is your ticket.<\/p>\n Available for more than 1,500 preseason, regular-season, and postseason NHL games each year, NHL betting lines bring more excitement to each shot, big hit, and incredible save. Whether you\u2019re looking for offseason futures, in-season Washington Capitals odds<\/a> and Philadelphia Flyers odds<\/a>, or live betting, you have everything at BetMGM.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have a sportsbook account, register today with BetMGM\u2019s welcome bonus<\/a>. And check back for the best sportsbook promotions<\/a> each day of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are underway, and the action in the highly anticipated men\u2019s ice hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-482019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}