Keagan Smith breaks down his prediction and pick for Latvia vs. Germany at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

The 2026 Winter Olympics continue in Milan, Italy on Saturday. The Group Stage of the men’s hockey tournament is in full swing and has provided some excellent moments thus far, and one of the closer-projected games on the schedule for today includes a duel between Latvia and Germany. Puck drops at 6:10 a.m. EST stateside, so for our North American readers, set those alarms!

Below, we’ll hit a brief preview, prediction and betting pick for Saturday’s Olympic hockey tilt between Latvia and Germany.

Latvia vs. Germany prediction, preview

Each operating in Group C, Germany and Latvia have played one game apiece so far.

For the Latvians, an ugly loss kicked off the competition on the men’s side with a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the United States. They can’t be faulted too much for falling in that one, especially with the amount of NHL talent on the American side — second-highest in odds on DraftKings Sportsbook to win gold — far outnumbering that of Team Latvia. They have just five NHLers on the roster between 1C Zemgus Girgensons (TBL), 2C Teddy Bluegar (VAN), 1D Uvis Balinskis (FLA) and a pair of netminders in Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ) and Arturs Silovs (PIT).

Silovs didn’t play a terrible game given how outmatched his team was, stopping 33-of-38 shots. He saw very little goal support, with third-line winger Renars Krastenbergs netting the lone goal for Latvia in the first period. Otherwise, the Latvians logged just 18 shots on goal and gave up eight minutes worth of penalties, something they’ll need to clean up on Saturday.

As for Germany, the opening game played out in much more pleasant fashion. The team took down Denmark 3-1, taking over in the second period and coasting the rest of the way to a win. In that outing, the NHL’s former Hart Trophy winner and reigning Rocket Richard champ potted the first goal of the day before a pair from Tim Stutzle. The Germans did give up plenty of shots as Philipp Grubauer made 37 saves, but they played clean hockey without a penalty and converted on a power play as well.

As for the talent, Draisaitl and Edmonton Oilers teammate Josh Samanski partner as the 1LW and 1C. JJ Peterka (UTA) and Stutzle (OTT) are on the second line along with Syracuse forward Wojciech Stachowiak. Nico Sturm (MIN) is the team’s fifth NHL forward, while Moritz Seider (DET) is the lone defenseman from the league on the roster. In goal, Grubauer (SEA) is likely to start once more.

Latvia vs. Germany pick, best bet

On DraftKings Sportsbook, Germany is a -1.5 favorite on the puck line with -305 odds on the Moneyline. Latvia holds +245 ML odds of an outright upset with the game total at 5.5 combined goals.

While Team Germany doesn’t have an abundance of NHL talent, it does have more than Team Latvia does. Beyond that consideration, the Germans also have the best player in the game with Draisaitl anchoring the top line. It’s no surprise that he netted a goal in the opening game and is a threat to notch a couple more points this time out with 80 points across 55 contests in the NHL this season. With better high-end talent and a better goaltender in Grubauer, who has a 2.43 GAA and .916 SV% back in the NHL this year, Germany undeniably does hold the upper hand once the puck drops. They should emerge with a win to advance to 2-0 in Group C, likely by multiple goals at that.

Best Bet: Team Germany -1.5 (-108)