02/14/26 12:44:00
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02/14 12:43 CST Late goal in a loss to Sweden gets Slovakia into the
quarterfinals at the Olympics
Late goal in a loss to Sweden gets Slovakia into the quarterfinals at the
Olympics
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
MILAN (AP) --- Dalibor Dvorsky's goal with 39 seconds sent Slovakia to the
quarterfinals in men's hockey at the Olympics as the winner of the group in a
tiebreaker even after losing to Sweden 5-3 on Saturday in each team's final
preliminary round game.
Slovakia won Group B when Finland crushed host Italy 11-0 later in the day
because of goal differential among the three tied teams. The bench celebrated
when Dvorsky scored, and players were all smiles afterward.
"It's probably the best loss I ever had," said Slovakia's Juraj Slafkovsky, the
reigning Olympic MVP who's tied with Canada's Connor McDavid for the most
points in the tournament with six apiece. "It's crazy, but we take it."
Dvorsky, who plays for the St. Louis Blues in the NHL, also called it the best
loss of his life. His goal on the power play after a penalty on Lucas Raymond
made it happen.
"We all know what we need to do on the ice," Dvorsky said. "There was not too
much tactics, right? And at this point of the game, just try to get pucks to
the net. And at the end, it was a rebound that was the goal."
Sweden, which played much better than it had in its 4-1 loss to archrival
Finland on Friday, was left to lament a missed opportunity even after winning
the game. Coach Sam Hallam pulled goaltender Jacob Markstrom in the final
seconds while leading by two goals because of the tiebreaker, but Sweden did
not score again.
"Tough pill to swallow," alternate captain Victor Hedman said. "But we will
regroup. We'll be ready for our next challenge.''
Markstrom stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced and may have supplanted Filip
Gustavsson as Sweden's starter moving forward. Sweden is locked into the
seventh seed and will have to play in the qualification round Tuesday just to
make it into the quarterfinals Wednesday.
"It is what it is," Hallam said. "Just look ahead, everything that's really
good never comes easy."
The U.S. plays Denmark on Saturday night looking to keep pace with unbeaten
Canada in the race for the top seed.
Finland beats host Italy 11-0
Sebastian Aho, Kaapo Kakko, Joel Kiviranta and captain Mikael Granlund each
scored twice for Finland in an 11-0 beatdown of host Italy. The 11-goal margin
made it the most lopsided men's hockey game at the Olympics since 1988, when
Sweden beat France 13-2.
Because of goal differential, the Finns were incentivized to run up the score
on an overmatched opponent. At one point, Finland had eight goals and Italy had
eight shots.
"I'd expect nothing less," Italy captain Thomas Larkin said. "That's the game
we're playing here. Yeah, that stings for us obviously from a pride perspective
but also in the standings."
Finland coach Antti Pennanen and his staff told players about the tiebreaker
before puck drop.
"They knew that, and then we told them honestly what is the situation,"
Pennanen said. "We had a plan. First plan: win the game. And then do goals as
much as you can."
Barring something incredibly unforeseen in games, Finland is into the
quarterfinals as the No. 4 seed.
Latvia upsets Germany
Eduards Tralmaks and Renars Krastenbergs scored just over three minutes apart,
and Latvia defeated Germany 4-3. Arturs Silovs of the Pittsburgh Penguins
stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced.
"We're a good team," said Zemgus Girgensons of the Buffalo Sabres, one of 10
NHL players on Latvia's roster. "We believed it. I don't think we go into the
game thinking it's going to be any other way. We came in today thinking we're
going to win. And that's what we did. We on paper, probably the best team we've
had. We're just going to keep gaining better by every game."
Germany's Philipp Grubauer, who was excellent in an opening win against Denmark
when he and his teammates were badly outshot, allowed four goals on 22 shots in
the loss.
"We just got to find a way to score," said Tim Sttzle, who scored the third
goal for Germany. "That's it. We got to go in the hard areas, know where the
other guy is and then make those plays."
Germany faces the U.S. on Sunday night.
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AP Sports Writers John Wawrow and James Ellingworth contributed.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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