The day finally arrived for the Winter Olympics to have Los Angeles Kings‘ players representing their home countries in men’s ice hockey on Wednesday (Feb. 11) for Team Finland and Team Sweden. Wingers Adrian Kempe (Team Sweden) and Joel Armia (Team Finland) opened up the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 11 in round robin play early this morning.
Two Los Angeles Kings players, wingers Joel Armia and Adrian Kempe, both log assists offensively on Day 1 of the 2026 Winter Olympics on the ice in Milan
These two games today were very different results offensively for the two Kings’ players representing their home countries in the Winter Olympics on Feb. 11. Kempe helped Team Sweden defeat the host country, Italy, by a convincing score of 5-2 on the scoreboard.
Armia and Finland, meanwhile, were defeated in a pretty surprising upset in round robin play on Wednesday by Team Slovakia and forward Juraj Slafkovsky by a score of 4-1 today.
1 assist each for Joel 🇫🇮 and Juice 🇸🇪 in today’s games! #MilanoCortina2026 #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/NNttUSWF4I
— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 12, 2026
Finland-Slovakia was the first game played today in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan on Wednesday. Armia was the lone Kings’ player representing either country between Slovakia and Finland today.
The Finnish squad came up short in the end by a convincing score of 4-1 on the scoreboard vs. an upstart Slovakia squad, led by the Montreal Canadiens’ young forward Slafkovsky. Armia helped Finland register the game-tying goal in the middle frame in the second period vs. Slovakia today. But Finland couldn’t build any momentum on the scoreboard after the goal scored by Eeli Tolvanen in the middle frame in the second period.
Armia was at least a positive takeaway for Finland today. He registered an assist and one total point on the only goal Finland scored, and he finished up with a +1 plus/minus rating in the game.
However, Kempe had a much different headline today for Team Sweden. After a slow start offensively in the zone today vs. Italy in Milan, Sweden really picked up the pace in the middle frame in the second period and in the final frame on the scoreboard.
Kempe registered an assist on what ended up being the insurance goal on the scoreboard for Sweden today vs. Italy, on a goal scored by Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander in the middle frame in the second period to put their side up by a score of 3-1 at the time in the game.
Sweden scored a couple of goals in the final frame in the third period to secure a comfortable 5-2 win over Italy for a momentum-boosting Olympics opener win today.