It wasn’t always pretty, but Team USA pulled out a 6-3 win over Denmark on Saturday to remain undefeated in preliminary round play of the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Americans started slow for the second straight game, but Brady Tkachuk and Jack Eichel managed to spark the team in the second period.

Trailing 2-1 after the first period, the U.S. needed a big play to turn the tide. The line featuring Eichel and the Tkachuk brothers — Brady and Matthew — provided two. Brady Tkachuk scored the tying goal after ripping home a wrist shot off an offensive zone faceoff.

Less than a minute later, Eichel gave the Americans their first lead when he pulled off an almost identical play from the other side of the ice. He found a loose puck off the draw and uncorked a shot that was past Danish goaltender Mads Sogaard before he knew what happened.

Team USA needed that effort because of another uneven start. Some disjointed play from the Americans was magnified by Jeremy Swayman, who got the start in goal while Connor Hellebuyck rested.

Two of the three goals Swayman allowed could be laid almost exclusively at his feet. The most egregious one came in the first period when Nicholas Jensen floated a shot in from the center red line that beat Swayman over the shoulder.

Noah Hanifin scored what would ultimately become the game-winner when he followed up his own blocked shot and snuck the rebound through the legs of Sogaard. Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes were able to provide some insurance in the third period as the Americans scored five of the game’s next six goals after falling behind 2-1.

Team USA is now in position to take a top-two seed into the knockout round, and it can finish off an undefeated run in preliminary play with a win over Leon Draisaitl and Germany on Sunday afternoon.

Sluggish starts becoming a trend

I was willing to chalk up the slow start against Latvia to rust or a lack of chemistry, but there’s no explanation for the early effort against Denmark. Team USA looked surprised by Denmark’s speed and tenacity, and was on its back foot for the the first 20 minutes.

The Americans have now been outscored 3-2 in the first period through two games. Overcoming a bad start against Latvia or Denmark is one thing, but the U.S. cannot afford to let this continue in the knockout round. If Team USA digs itself an early hole against Sweden or Canada, it might not be able to climb out.

That’s why I’m looking for the U.S. to come out firing against Germany on Sunday. The Germans have real stars like Draisaitl, Tim Stützle and Moritz Seider, but they also just lost to Latvia. Team USA should be able to exert its will, but needs to prove it can do that for 60 minutes.

Tkachuk, Eichel leading the way

They say you don’t need a letter on your sweater to lead, and two American players are proving that. Midway through the second period, the U.S. trailed 2-1 and looked a little lifeless. The team wasn’t generating many quality scoring chances, and an upset was looking more likely by the second. Then Eichel and Brady Tkachuk took over.

Almost out of nowhere, those two flipped the game on its head. Eichel won an offensive faceoff back to Tkachuk, and he let a perfect shot fly that beat Sogaard in the top corner. Fifty-seven seconds later, Eichel won another key faceoff in the Denmark zone. Thanks to a little help from Matthew Tkachuk, Eichel got the puck back and did his best Brady Tkachuk impression with a seed that whizzed past Sogaard. Suddenly, the Americans had the lead.

The rest of the team fed off the energy those plays provided, and the Americans played good hockey for the final 30 minutes. That allowed them to pull away and avoid what could have been a nerve-wracking finish in the third period. Through two games, Eichel and the Tkachuks have been Team USA’s best line. They just need the other three lines to start chipping in a little earlier in games.

Swayman played his way out of the lineup

Swayman was clearly the coaching staff’s preferred option for the role of primary backup goalie coming into the tournament, but he probably lost that gig today. Based on his 2025-26 season with the Boston Bruins, Swayman deserved to get the start over Jake Oettinger today, but he likely won’t make another appearance at these Olympics.

Swayman’s day got off to an inauspicious start when he made a stop on a deflection only to have the rebound kick past him off the skate of American defenseman Zach Werenski. Swayman also allowed Denmark to get some life at the end of the second period when he let a routine slapshot get by him with 2.6 seconds left on the clock, but that was far from his biggest mistake of the contest.

Denmark took a 2-1 lead in the second period when  Jensen threw a soft shot on goal as he was about to go for a line change. Swayman lost sight of the puck and it beat him up high. There’s a chance that goal costs the U.S. the No. 1 seed in the knockout round due to the goal differential tiebreaker.

Regardless of what happened on Saturday, Hellebuyck was probably going to start every game the rest of the tournament anyway. However, if something happens and the Americans need to pivot away from Hellebuyck, it’s hard to imagine the coaching staff going back to Swayman.