Seven members of the Florida Panthers are still in the running for Olympic gold after a thrilling quarterfinal round Wednesday in Milan.
Although the first week of Olympic play was pretty uneventful, things picked up in a hurry Thursday.
Slovakia moved into the semifinal round with a 6-2 win over Germany to kick the day off.
Then things got interesting.
Team Canada, the favorite to win gold come Sunday, found itself on the verge of an early exit down 3-2 to Czechia late in the third.
Montreal center Nick Suzuki tied things up with 3:27 remaining and St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington made a big save on a breakaway to force overtime.
Canada won it 4-3 just 88 seconds into overtime on a goal from Vegas forward Mitch Marner.
Florida forward Brad Marchand returned to the Canada lineup after missing the past two games; Sam Bennett was a healthy scratch.
That set the stage for another exciting finish in quarterfinal between Switzerland and Finland.
Switzerland led 2-0 after the first period and carried that lead deep into the third before Sebastian Aho of the Hurricanes got the Finns on the board with 6:06 left.
Miro Heiskanen of the Stars tied it with 1:02 remaining with Colorado’s Artturi Lehknonen winning it in overtime.
Then came the Americans.
Team USA led Sweden 1-0 on a goal from Dylan Larkin at 11:03 of the second.
Sweden tied the score with 1:31 left in regulation on a goal from Mika Zibanejad of the Rangers — only to see Quinn Hughes win it 2-1 at 3:27 of overtime.
That loss knocks Gus Forsling and Sweden from the Olympics.
Team USA moves to the semifinal round and will play Slovakia on Friday afternoon; Canada opens the semifinals with Finland on Friday morning.
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
MEN’S HOCKEY SCHEDULE
Friday — Semifinals: Canada vs. Finland, 10:40 a.m. (USA Network, Peacock); United States vs. Slovakia, 3:10 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)
Saturday — Bronze medal game: 2:40 p.m. (USA, Peacock)
Sunday — Gold medal game: 8:10 a.m. (NBC, Peacock)
OLYMPIC RESULTS
Day 1 — Group B: Slovakia 4, Finland 1; Sweden 5 Italy 2
Day 2 — Group A: Switzerland 4, France 0; Canada 5, Czechia 0. Group C: United States 5, Latvia 1; Germany 3, Denmark 1
Day 3 — Group B: Finland 4, Sweden 1; Slovakia 3, Italy 2. Group A: Czechia 6, France 3; Canada 5, Switzerland 1
Day 4 (Saturday) — Group B: Sweden 5, Slovakia 3; Finland 11, Italy 0. Group C: Latvia 4, Germany 3; USA 6, Denmark 3
Day 5 (Sunday) — Group A: Switzerland 4, Czechia 3 (OT); Canada 10, France 2. Group C: Denmark 4, Latvia 2; USA 5, Germany 1
Tuesday’s Qualifiers: Germany 5, France 1; Switzerland 3, Italy 0; Czechia 3, Denmark 2; Sweden 5, Latvia 1.
Wednesday’s Quarterfinals: Slovakia 6, Germany 2; Canada 4, Czechia 3 (OT); Finland 3, Switzerland 2 (OT); United States 2, Sweden 1 (OT)
FLORIDA PANTHERS
2026 MILAN CORTINA OLYMPIC GAMES
United States (4-0-0): F Matthew Tkachuk (4 GP, 0-5, 5 points); D Seth Jones (injured), Bill Zito (assistant GM), Teddy Richards (equipment manager)
Canada (4-0-0): F Sam Reinhart (4 GP; 0-1, 1); F Brad Marchand (2 GP, 0-1, 1); C Sam Bennett (3 GP; 0-1, 1)
Finland (3-1-0): C Sasha Barkov (injured), F Eetu Luostarinen (4 GP; 0-4, 4); D Niko Mikkola (4 GP, 0-3, 3); C Anton Lundell (3 GP; 1-1, 2); Tuomo Ruutu (assistant coach)
Sweden* (3-1-1): D Gus Forsling (5 GP; 1-1, 2); Myles Fee (video coach)
Germany* (2-3-0): Jamie Kompon (assistant coach)
Latvia* (1-3-0): D Uvis Balinskis (4 GP; 0-1, 1); F Sandis Vilmanis(4 GP; 0-0, 0)
(*) — EliminatedÂ
