Colorado Avalanche center Brock Nelson had a wild first period for Team USA on Thursday.
And his night was just getting started.
In their Olympic opener against Team Latvia, the United States had two goals called back in the first period and Nelson was involved in both.
He thought he had an assist, but Latvia challenged for offsides and the goal came off the board. Then, Nelson had a beautiful tip-in to give the Americans a 2-1 lead, but that was challenged for goaltender interference and also reversed.
Luckily, Nelson and Team USA stuck with it, and beat Latvia by a final score of 5-1. And Nelson still had a monster game — scoring two goals in the second period after his snake-bitten first.
NELSON SAID THIS ONE’S GOOD. 🚨 #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/hsAfIYaLzI
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2026
Everything coming up BROCK. NELSON. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/yy7xGkXiR0
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 12, 2026
Those are both gorgeous from Brock Nelson and his celebration after the first one is classic. Nelson pointed toward the goal like a referee, signaling this one is finally good. Avs teammate Nathan MacKinnon has done that before; MacKinnon scored for Team Canada in their opener earlier in the day.
And on the second goal Nelson was in the right place at the right time, taking a beautiful pass from Jack Hughes and burying it into the net.
It’s a great start to the tournament for Nelson and Team USA as they pursue a gold medal in Italy. They’ll have Friday off before being back in action on Saturday against Team Denmark.
Brock Nelson made a lot of noise in the first game — stay tuned to see what he does the rest of the Olympics.
