{"id":477667,"date":"2026-02-19T10:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/477667\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:47:10","slug":"team-usa-fights-off-sweden-in-ot-advances-to-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/477667\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA Fights Off Sweden In OT, Advances To Semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 When the U.S. gave up a tying goal to Sweden with 91 seconds left in the quarterfinals at the Olympics<\/a>, even the most seasoned players were on edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s as nervous as I\u2019ve been ever in a hockey game,\u201d Dylan Larkin said.<\/p>\n

When Canada was trailing Czechia with under four minutes left, guys with gold medals and Stanley Cup rings started to feel butterflies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never had a doubt, but it was getting a little nerve-wracking,\u201d Drew Doughty said.<\/p>\n

After plenty of nerves, the U.S. and Canada are moving on to the semifinals, though it took a roller coaster of emotions to get there.<\/p>\n

Quinn Hughes scored in overtime to put the U.S. past Sweden 2-1 after Mika Zibanejad scored to tie it late.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust relief,\u201d Hughes said.<\/p>\n

Earlier Wednesday, Nick Suzuki tied it for Canada late in regulation against Czechia, and Mitch Marner won it 4-3 in overtime<\/a> to avoid what would have been a stunning early exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just all relief,\u201d Canada\u2019s Macklin Celebrini said after scoring three minutes in and then assisting on Marner\u2019s goal. \u201cA weight lifted off our shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finland also escaped an upset bid by rallying to beat Switzerland 3-2 in OT. Sweden is going home early from a tournament that did not go as planned for a team with a full roster of 25 NHL players, while upstart Slovakia is making another improbable run at the Games.<\/p>\n

After Canada did its part, the U.S. bounced back from Zibanejad scoring to keep alive the possibility of the North American rivals meeting in the gold medal game Sunday. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced, none more important than a Grade-A chance by Lucas Raymond during the second period.<\/p>\n

The U.S. will face Slovakia in one semifinal on Friday night. Just before that, also unbeaten Canada plays Finland in the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be an extremely hard test,\u201d Hughes said of Slovakia. \u201cThey\u2019ve been rolling. They\u2019re competitive. They\u2019re fast. Doesn\u2019t matter how many superstars you have, just the desperation level\u2019s so high. It\u2019s Game 7 every night now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TeamTeam Canada’s Mitch Marner (right) erupts in joy over his game-winning goal in overtime as Macklin Celebrini (left) celebrates following the men’s ice hockey quarterfinals match against Czech Republic at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Xavier Laine via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Canada survives an upset scare from Czechia<\/p>\n

After losing captain Sidney Crosby<\/a> to injury, Canada was staring down what would have been a stunning quarterfinal exit until Nick Suzuki tied it on a deflection goal with 3:27 left. Then Mitch Marner scored a little more than a minute into overtime to beat Czechia 4-3 and send the tournament favorite into the semifinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody had complete faith in whoever was going over the boards,\u201d coach Jon Cooper said. \u201cIt just felt it was like a matter of time. It was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nerves were palpable when Canada fell behind with 7:42 remaining on Ondrej Palat\u2019s goal on an odd-man rush off a pass from Martin Necas. Replays showed Czechia had six skaters on the ice, which Nathan MacKinnon said he and his teammates were aware of, even if on-ice officials didn\u2019t notice.<\/p>\n

Suzuki just about did it all on the tying goal, sending the puck out to the point to Devon Toews and then redirecting the defenseman\u2019s shot that was going well wide past Lukas Dostal and into the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cToewser gave me a perfect opportunity to tip it,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cJust trying to put something on net there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Binnington denied David Pastrnak on a breakaway with 70 seconds left to send the game past regulation. It was the biggest of Binnington\u2019s 21 saves in an excellent performance from Canada\u2019s starter.<\/p>\n

Then Marner summoned some more heroics playing for Canada, scoring his second OT goal in an international tournament in as many chances. Marner also scored in a similar fashion<\/a> a year ago at the 4 Nations Face-Off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the \u2018it\u2019 factor, man: Mitch Marner\u2019s got it,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t disappoint. Sometimes your hair falls out at times, but in the end, he never disappoints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Finland'sFinland’s Artturi Lehkonen (pictured) celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal in the quarterfinal game against Switzerland on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Petr David Josek via Associated Press<\/p>\n

Finland also ties it late and wins in overtime<\/p>\n

Much like Canada, Finland was trailing late in its game against Switzerland. The Finns also got a late goal to avoid an upset defeat.<\/p>\n

Miro Heiskanen tied it with 72 seconds left, Artturi Lehkonen scored in overtime and Finland escaped with a 3-2 victory. Heiskanen\u2019s shot banked in off Switzerland defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler\u2019s stick and past goaltender Leonardo Genoni.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a relentless team,\u201d Heiskanen said. \u201cWe never give up. We know we had a tough start. It was a slow start, but we kept playing, kept working and it paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finland was actually down two goals after Switzerland\u2019s Damien Riat and Nino Niederreiter scored 1 minute, 12 seconds apart in the first period. It took until there was 6:06 left before Sebastian Aho got Finland on the board.<\/p>\n

\"SlovakiaSlovakia players celebrate their victory over Germany in Milan on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Petr David Josek via Associated Press<\/p>\n

Slovakia reaches the semis despite quiet game from Slafkovsky<\/p>\n

Dalibor Dvorsky turned in another brilliant performance with a goal and an assist, fellow NHL forward Pavol Regenda scored twice as part of his three-point game and Slovakia dominated Germany 6-2 on to reach the semifinals and guarantee playing for a medal in Milan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazing,\u201d said alternate captain Erik Cernak, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning. \u201cBefore the tournament, if we would say we\u2019re going to make semifinals, probably people would laugh at you. But we did it, and it\u2019s not done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slovakia got an injury scare in the second period when 21-year-old emerging Montreal Canadiens star Juraj Slafkovsky, the reigning Olympic MVP<\/a>, went head-first into the boards and was slow to get up. A trainer applied an ice pack to the back of Slafkovsky\u2019s neck, and he held it on himself when he got up to celebrate a goal scored while he was getting medical attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m OK,\u201d Slafkovsky said. \u201cI was a little shaken up, but after a couple minutes I felt OK again. I went out there, and head wasn\u2019t spinning. I was seeing normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 When the U.S. gave up a tying goal to Sweden with 91 seconds left in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[6755,385,1082,99,6804,42270,58926],"class_list":["post-477667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-olympics","tag-sports","tag-sweden","tag-team-usa","tag-winter-olympics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}