Day 1 of the men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Olympic Games was all about the netminders.
A crew of young goaltenders kicked off the tournament with some fireworks Wednesday, delivering an Olympic record, an absurd number of saves, and two tilts that wound up far more nervy than expected. The story of the day was 21-year-old Italy ’tender Damian Clara. Facing a Swedish side stocked with NHL all-stars — led by the likes of William Nylander, Elias Pettersson and Adrian Kempe up front, and an all-world blue line stocked with Norris-calibre talent — Clara nearly authored an historic upset for the Games’ host nation.
The problems started early for Sweden. Minutes into a game uniformly expected to be a one-sided flattening, Italy stunned the crowd at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena when veteran Luca Frigo flew in on a breakaway and wired one past Sweden’s Filip Gustavsson.
The Swedes looked shaky for much of the opening stretch, bobbling passes and missing wide-open chances. It was a gaffe from Gustavsson that spurred Italy’s opening goal — the veteran bobbled the puck, dropped his stick as it bounced into the slot, and watched Frigo walk in and put it away.
But the performance in the other net was the talk of the tilt.
Soon after Italy drew first blood, the Tre Kronor found their legs and started stringing together chances. They came in waves, flying down the sheet, whipping the puck around the offensive zone. While they broke through with a pair of goals from Gabriel Landeskog and Gustav Forsling, Clara turned aside 25 shots in the opening frame alone.
By the end of the second period, the Swedes had sent 43 shots in on Clara. They got three by him — and gave up another goal to Italy 30 seconds into the second period — but largely found themselves stymied by the six-foot-five Anaheim Ducks prospect. Clara kept the game within reach for the majority of the night.
Playing the game of his life, the young goalie’s night came to an unfortunate early end in the third period when Clara sprawled out for an incredible save on an Elias Pettersson breakaway, injuring himself in the process. He left the ice with an absurd 46 saves on 49 shots. Milan’s own Davide Fadani drew into the game and withstood an early flurry himself, before ultimately giving up Italy’s fourth goal on a Mika Zibanejad shot from distance.
The Swedes added an empty-netter to finish with a 5-2 win. They’ll take the victory and the generous scoreline, but the Swedish brass can’t be thrilled with how close this one came, the score sitting level until late into the second period.
On the other side of the sheet, though, there’s no doubt it was a night to remember for Clara, and for Fadani too, the pair nearly pulling out an all-time upset to begin these Games on their home soil.
Plenty of question marks for Swedish offence after rollercoaster opener
If you only saw the boxscore for Wednesday’s game, you could come away thinking the Swedes did exactly what they were meant to against the underdog Italians. They potted five goals for a dominant win and threw 60 shots on net — an Olympic record in the NHL era, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
But those who watched it all play out know there was much to be desired from the high-flying Tre Kronor in this one.
While they tallied a few late to take the game, the Swedes fumbled a slew of grade-A chances over the course of the night, whiffing on wide-open nets more than a few times when the game was still up for grabs. It took Sweden 24 shots to get their second goal of the night, 40 to get their third, 58 to get their fourth. Against the stiffer competition that will come down the line, a more opportunistic approach will be pivotal.
Granting more opportunity to veteran scorer Filip Forsberg — who started the game as Sweden’s 13th forward, and saw only one minute of ice-time — certainly seems worth a look, too.
Netminder Samuel Hlavaj key to Slovakia’s own upset effort
The earlier game on the slate saw a similar story play out, with Slovakia taking on a Finnish squad led by the likes of Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintz, and riding an excellent goaltending performance of their own to an unexpected result.
Slovakia wasn’t quite as overmatched, of course. The side is stocked with promising NHL talent and is coming off a bronze-medal performance at the 2022 Games. But there’s no question they entered Wednesday’s matchup as the underdog. And their 4-1 victory over the Finns falls decidedly into the upset category.
Hlavaj played no small role in the win. Facing a flurry from the opening puck-drop, the 24-year-old wound up with 39 saves on the night, holding the Finns to just a lone second-period goal, and setting a Slovakian Olympic saves record, helping his countrymen begin the tournament on a winning note.
They’ll face the two combatants from Wednesday’s other game in their next two tilts — meeting Italy on Friday and Sweden on Saturday — and after taking down the defending champs on Day 1, Slovakia finds itself gunning for dark-horse status.
Slovakia’s youth movement picking up where it left off in 2022
On the other side of the sheet, Slovakia was just as impressive, the nation’s young offensive stars leading the way for them again.
Rewind back to 2022, and the Beijing Games were The Juraj Slafkovský Show — the Montreal Canadiens phenom finished as the tournament’s leading scorer and MVP, guiding Slovakia to their first-ever Olympic hockey medal with a goal-per-game performance (seven tallies in seven tilts).
Wednesday, he was at it again, adding two more goals, plus an assist, and coming inches away from completing the hat trick. They weren’t garbage goals, either — the first saw Slafkovský dance around a Finnish defender, and then the goalie too, before tucking the puck in with ease; the second saw him wire in an inch-perfect wrister from the top of the slot.
The 21-year-old’s eight Olympic goals rank as the most of any NHLer competing in these Games (tied for second place are Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty, each with four).
Twenty-year-old St. Louis Blues talent Dalibor Dvorský made his presence known as well, tallying the eventual game-winning goal and adding an assist, too.
Off to a red-hot start at these Games, there’s no doubt the future is bright for Slovakia — the question now is simply how much noise they can make in the present.
