Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling scored a goal and added an assist in Sweden’s tournament-opneing 5-2 win over host at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Forsling blasted a rolling rebound by Italy’s Damian Clara with 2:07 left in the first period to give the Swedes a 2-1 lead. He also drew the lone helper on Victor Hedman’s empty-netter with 2:49 remaining in regulation which finally put the pesky Italians away.
He finished the game with five shots on goal and a team-best plus-three rating.
Thnigs weren’t so rosy for Panthers Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola who were part of Finland’s 4-1 upset loss to Slovakia.
Mikkola was the only one of the trio to register a shot on goal, finishing with two in his 20:24 of ice time.
Lundell played 16:21 and took 18 draws, winning 11. He finished the tilt with an even rating.
Luostarinen logged 15:51 of ice time and finished up with an even rating.
While Lundell and Luostarinen didn’t make much of an impact on the score sheet, their line, which included Seattle’s Kappo Kakko, was effective, particularly in the first period.
Matthew Tkachuk (United States), Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand (Canada), Sandis Vilmanis and Uvis Balinskis (Latvia) will all be in action today.
Today’s games at the 2026 Winter Olympics (Men’s tournament)
Group A: Switzerland vs. France 6:10 a.m.
Group A: Czechia vs. Canada 10:40 a.m.
Group C: Latvia vs. United States 3:10 p.m.
Group C: Germany vs. Denmark 3:10 p.m.
Today’s games at the 2026 Winter Olympics (Women’s tournament)
Group A: Finland (1-2) vs. Canada (2-1) 8:30 a.m.