{"id":455043,"date":"2026-02-12T00:51:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455043\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T00:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:51:28","slug":"juraj-slafkovsky-scores-twice-as-slovakia-upsets-finland-4-1-to-open-the-milan-cortina-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455043\/","title":{"rendered":"Juraj Slafkovsky scores twice as Slovakia upsets Finland 4-1 to open the Milan Cortina Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Juraj Slafkovsky<\/a> had Slovakia’s<\/a> only two goals four years ago in the first men’s hockey game at the Beijing Olympics, a convincing loss to Finland.<\/p>\n

Slafkovsky again scored twice in the tournament opener. Only this time, Slovakia upset Finland 4-1 Wednesday to get the first Olympics with NHL<\/a> players in more than a decade off to a stunning start.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is way better \u2014 a way better feeling to win,” Slafkovsky said.<\/p>\n

With Slafkovsky, the MVP in 2022, picking up where he left off at the Olympics and goaltender Samuel Hlavaj<\/a> stopping 39 of the 40 shots he faced, Slovakia served noticed by knocking off a medal favorite that it should not be taken lightly despite having only seven NHL players, while all but one on Finland\u2019s roster plays in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are kind of that team no one\u2019s really expecting us to win much of the games,” alternate captain Martin Fehervary<\/a> said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t won against Finland for a long, long time. I felt like this is the day. I felt like this is the time, and we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slafkovsky, who now plays for the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>, scored the first goal of this tournament less than eight minutes in, skating through Finland’s defense and sliding the puck past a helpless Juuse Saros. After Dalibor Dvorsky<\/a> scored with 13 minutes left to put Slovakia ahead, Slafkovsky wired a shot past Saros on the power play and pumped his fist to the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the Olympics are fitting to him,” defenseman Erik Cernak<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing well at the Olympics. I\u2019m really happy for him. He\u2019s playing well in Montreal. Now, he brought the same play, same everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hlavaj had a lot to do with the initial underdog story on the ice, fending off one onslaught after another as Slovakia was outshot 18-5 in the first period and 40-25 overall. Fehervary called Hlavaj, a Minnesota Wild<\/a> prospect playing in the American Hockey League in Iowa, Slovakia’s best player.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019ve never seen him play before,” Cernak said. “But he was outstanding. He kept us in it in important moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unable to watch while the U.S. team he runs was practicing next door, Wild general manager Bill Guerin said \u201cit’s great\u201d that Hlavaj got off to such a strong start at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

It was not so good for Saros, the Nashville Predators<\/a> starter who allowed three goals on 24 shots in defeat. <\/p>\n

Finland next plays archrival Sweden<\/a> on Friday, and it’s possible Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen<\/a> gets the nod, just as he did in replacing Saros in net at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early to say,\u201d Finland coach Antti Pennanen said. \u201cI like how Juuse played, and it wasn\u2019t an easy game for him because not that many shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eeli Tolvanen<\/a>, also a returning Olympian after playing in 2018, scored Finland’s only goal. Adam Ruzicka scored into an empty net to seal it for Slovakia and deal Finland an unexpected early defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it wasn\u2019t the start we wanted,\u201d captain Mikael Granlund<\/a> said. “We all know the most important games are ahead of us. No panic.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Sweden gets a scare from Italy<\/a> before winning 5-2<\/p>\n

Sweden defenseman Victor Hedman<\/a> was not surprised Finland lost to Slovakia because \u201cthis is the Olympic Games. We\u2019ve seen a lot of upsets.\u201d <\/p>\n

He and his heavily favored teammates had some dicey times when it looked as if they’d be on the wrong end of an all-time shocker against host Italy before taking the lead midway through and pulling away to win 5-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no easy games in tournaments like this, and the gap isn\u2019t what it used to be years ago,\u201d said captain Gabriel Landeskog<\/a>, who scored the tying goal after Sweden fell behind when Italy’s Luca Frigo scored four minutes in. \u201cA little bit of rust, some things to clean up, but that\u2019s to be expected. I thought it was a hard-fought game, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Gustav Forsling<\/a> scored to give Sweden the lead before the end of the first period, it looked as if it was the goal that would end the long shot bid. <\/p>\n

Instead, Italy players went into intermission knowing they could play with one of the best teams in the world and showed it early in the second when Canadian import Matt Bradley tied it again.<\/p>\n

Sweden went ahead for good when William Nylander<\/a> scored late in the second, and Italy goalie Damian Clara<\/a> left midway through the third after his right leg cramped up making one of his 46 saves on 49 shots. That cut short an incredible performance by the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> prospect drafted in the second round in 2023. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe played unbelievable,” Italy’s Dustin Gazley said. “If it wasn\u2019t for him, the score could have been way higher than it was. That was his job, and that\u2019s what he did for us and it was huge to have him back there stopping pucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mika Zibanejad<\/a> scored on backup Davide Fadani, who relieved Clara, and Hedman’s empty-net goal sealed it. The all-NHL Swedes had 60 shots to Italy\u2019s 22.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put up 60 shots, usually you win those games \u2014 and we did,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cWe knew Clara was a big, big talent. Anaheim is lucky to have a prospect like that. He played unbelievable and kept them in the game. We could\u2019ve been a little bit more direct, but it felt like a typical opening game and nerves, even though it doesn\u2019t matter who you play.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Juraj Slafkovsky had Slovakia’s only two goals four years ago in the first men’s hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[233,2312,55279,5,976,1271,161,38,5280,21,231,285,4,7440,1498,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-455043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-erik-cernak","10":"tag-event_recap","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-juraj-slafkovsky","13":"tag-mikael-granlund","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-minnesota-wild","16":"tag-minnesotawild","17":"tag-montreal-canadiens","18":"tag-nashville-predators","19":"tag-national-hockey-league","20":"tag-nhl","21":"tag-samuel-hlavaj","22":"tag-victor-hedman","23":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116054922610337005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}