On Saturday, Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky helped his native Slovakia clinch the top spot in Group B of the Men’s Olympic Tournament. Slafkovsky scored a goal and an assist in a 5-3 loss against Sweden. That 3rd goal, which the Habs forward helped set up, was the difference maker in allowing Slovakia to win the group on goal differential. Despite the loss, the fact that Slafkovsky took over the opening game in the tournament with a 4-1 upset victory over Finland is what allowed Slovakia to finish play in a 3-way tie between them, Sweden, and Finland.

Sweden defeats Slovakia 5-3. But Slovakia wins group B!!! Sweden had to win by 3+. The beautiful tournament we’ve all missed! Slafkovsky another great game.. 1 goal and a primary assist #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/gc2hEjutGn

— HabsMuse (@HabsMuse) February 14, 2026

The tie-breaker situation was based on the goal differentials in the head-to-head matchup between the three teams. With that being said, the wins that all three countries achieved against Italy did not count towards the tie-breaker in this situation.

The simpler way for the tie-breaker should have counted all the games that each played, but thankfully for Slovakia that was not the case, and the least likely of the three countries to take Group B got the advantage in the end. If all 3 games, including the one against Italy, counted, Finland would have walked away with the group after an 11-0 victory against Italy after Sweden’s 5-3 victory over Slovakia.

The last goal moved us to where Sweden has a Goal Differential in those games of -1 and Slovakia is +1.

(Again, Sweden’s +3 against Italy is removed as is Slovakia’s +1 and it doesn’t matter if Finland wins by 7 today.) pic.twitter.com/jN84Quy6f8

— Justin (@WildcatOil) February 14, 2026

The goal differentials were as follows for the tie-breaker situation: Slovakia had a +1 differential after their 4-1 win against Finland and the 5-3 loss vs. Sweden. Finland finished even after losing 4-1 to Slovakia and beating Sweden 4-1. The likeliest favourite of Sweden ended at -1 with the 4-1 defeat to Finland, then beat Slovakia 5-3.

For the 2nd Olympic Games in a row, it seems like Slafkovsky and Slovakia will be in a great spot to play for a medal thanks to winning their group. This is because they will be skipping the play-in round and getting a bye right to the quarterfinals, and based on the current expected rankings, it seems likely that Latvia will be the quarterfinals opponent for Slovakia. Playing against Latvia would allow the Slovaks to enter their game as huge favourites for the quarterfinal matchup.

As for Finland finishing 2nd in the group, with an overall goal differential of +11 (the Italy game will count in the differential), they are likely to be the best 2nd-place team among all three groups, meaning they should get a bye to the Quarterfinals as well. Meanwhile, Sweden is guaranteed to be the best 3rd-place team and will be the 7th-seeded team heading into the playing-in round.

Juraj Slafkovsky with a ROCKET to tie the game for Team Slovakia 🇸🇰

He has 3 goals and 5 points in 3 games so far in the tournament.pic.twitter.com/EUOa4gf0RN

— William Dubé (@williamdube_) February 14, 2026

Once again Slovakia has Slafkovsky to thank for the great positioning heading into the elimination rounds. His 3 goals and 6 points in 3 round robin games are tied for the most points as of the end of Saturday’s matchups (he will almost guaranteed be passed by Connor McDavid on Sunday, but it’s still showing how dominant of a player he has been during this tournament).

While he scored a goal during Saturday’s game, Slafkovsky’s assist on Dalibor Dvorsky’s goal with 39 seconds left in the 3rd period that allowed Slovakia to win the tie-breaker was the biggest play for the country throughout this tournament so far. The goal happened because Slafkovsky took a wicked wrister similar to the one that he scored with earlier in the game, but the goaltender got a piece of it, and it fell into the crease. Luckily Slovakia’s 2nd most clutch player in the tournament so far, Dvorsky, was there to clean things up and get the massive goal.

Even though Slovakia lost 5-3 on Saturday, that late goal felt like a buzzer-beating winner, and Slafkovsky once again played a huge role in creating it. With that being said, he has been one of the early favourites to win tournament MVP (behind McDavid, of course), and his 6 points in 3 games is a huge reason they are even in the position they are in.

Other than Connor McDavid, has there been anybody else as clutch for their country as Juraj Slafkovsky?