Chicago Blackhawks forward Teuvo Teravainen and Finland defeated Italy, the host country, 11-0 in their final preliminary group-play game at the 2026 Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey competition on Saturday.
Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes), Mikael Granlund (Anaheim Ducks), Kaapo Kakko (Seattle Kraken), and Joel Kiviranta (Colorado Avalanche) each scored twice for the Finns in their blowout victory. Joel Armia (Los Angeles Kings) and Arturri Lehkonen (Colorado Avalanche) also scored, while Mikko Rantanen (Dallas Stars) had three assists.
Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars), Rasmus Ristolainen (Philadelphia Flyers), Niko Mikkola (Florida Panthers), Eetu Luostarinen (Florida Panthers), and Erik Haula (Nashville Predators) added multi-point efforts.
For the third consecutive game, Teravainen skated alongside Aho and Lehkonen on Finland’s second line. The trio failed to combine for a single goal through two games, but they finally broke through against Italy.
Lehkonen (1G, 2A) and Aho (2G) were both among the standouts on Saturday, and Teravainen recorded his first point of the tournament. He picked up the primary assist on Lehkonen’s tally at 41:34, extending Finland’s lead to 8-0 early in the third period. Teravainen finished the game with one shot on goal and a plus-two rating in 15:55 of ice time.
With two regulation wins and one loss for six points through three games, Finland has secured second place in Group B. Slovakia earned the top spot and will have a bye into the Quarterfinals, which begin on Wednesday. Sweden sits in third place, and Italy is fourth. Both will have to play in the Qualification Playoff on Tuesday.
After outscoring the Italians by 11 goals, Finland has a strong chance to nab the fourth and final bye into the Quarterfinals. They’ve outscored their opponents 16-5 through three games, which will be a tough goal differential to beat.
Finland got off to a sluggish start to the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics with a 4-1 upset loss to Slovakia in the tournament’s opening game on Wednesday. But after rebounding and beating their rival Sweden 4-1 on Friday, the Finns got their swagger back and rolled that momentum into a second consecutive win.
Finland has now outscored their opponents 15-1 in their last 120 minutes of action and should feel very confident going into their next game, which very well could come with only eight countries remaining in the Quarterfinals.
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