{"id":459518,"date":"2026-02-16T05:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T05:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/459518\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T05:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T05:22:18","slug":"trio-of-devils-helping-switzerland-weather-brutal-olympic-injury-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/459518\/","title":{"rendered":"Trio of Devils helping Switzerland weather brutal Olympic injury woes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN \u2014 Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler traded their Devils red for Swiss red, and helped put their country in a favorable position heading into the single-elimination portion of the men\u2019s Olympic hockey tournament.<\/p>\n<p>As Switzerland defeated Czechia 4-3 in overtime Sunday afternoon, Meier posted a two-point effort and scored his team-leading third goal on the power play while skating on a line with Hischier.<\/p>\n<p>The OT victory ensured the Swiss won\u2019t finish any lower than the No. 6 seed. <\/p>\n<p>Their final placement, however, will depend on the rest of the Group C results.<\/p>\n<p>Canada <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/15\/sports\/team-usa-has-time-to-raise-its-olympic-level-to-meet-canada\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">may be the undisputed favorite in its group<\/a>, but Switzerland could finish as high as No. 5 after emerging victorious from the first overtime period of the preliminary round.<\/p>\n<p>To get to experience this all with their NHL teammates has made it that much more memorable for the Devils trio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun having the opportunity to play with two of your teammates that are teammates with your club, even more special,\u201d Meier said. \u201cPlaying with Nico, as well, helps to have that kind of chemistry already built. But I think this group we have here, we love playing with each other. We\u2019re a really tight group. This is the first time we\u2019re obviously together like this, but over the years, we\u2019ve played with each other. We love battling for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nico Hischier skates with the puck during Switzerland\u2019s game against Italy on Feb. 15. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Meier has been a crucial piece for the Swiss, collecting an assist in addition to his three goals to go along with a plus-five rating Sunday. <\/p>\n<p>His five shots on goal were tied with Hischier for the most on the team.<\/p>\n<p>If Switzerland finishes in fifth, they will likely play Italy in the play-in. <\/p>\n<p>If they fall to sixth, Switzerland would probably face France.<\/p>\n<p>Three Swiss players \u2014 Kevin Fiala, Denis Malgin and Andrea Glauser \u2014 went down in their loss to Canada in the previous game. <\/p>\n<p>It was a particularly scary scene for Fiala, who had to be stretchered off the ice before undergoing surgery, which <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/14\/sports\/kings-kevin-fiala-out-for-season-after-devastating-olympic-injury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will sideline him<\/a> for the remainder of the Kings season.<\/p>\n<p>Timo Meier celebrates a goal during Switzerland\u2019s game against Italy on Feb. 15. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s still with us,\u201d said Hischier, who is one of seven Devils in Milan along with the United States\u2019 Jack Hughes, Sweden\u2019s Jesper Bratt and Jacob Markstrom, and Slovakia\u2019s Simon Nemec. \u201cWe\u2019ll play for him \u2026 He\u2019s one of our best players, so it\u2019s obviously a tough loss for us. He\u2019s still engaged with us and he\u2019ll cheer us on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prior to puck drop Sunday, Fiala sent his Switzerland teammates a \u201creally emotional\u201d video message.<\/p>\n<p>The goal was to pump the team up, which was successful as they took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission following goals from Hischier and Roman Josi.<\/p>\n<p>2026 WINTER OLYMPICS<\/p>\n<p>Fans of both nations have shown up in full force since the tournament began. <\/p>\n<p>Czechs have draped hundreds of the country\u2019s flags around the entire lower bowl during each game. <\/p>\n<p>It has created a sort of home-ice advantage environment at times, but the Swiss made their presence known as well.<\/p>\n<p>Jonas Siegenthaler skates during the third period of Switzerland\u2019s Feb. 15 game. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Czechia was able to sandwich Switzerland\u2019s lone third-period goal from Pius Suter with two of its own.<\/p>\n<p>Martin Necas scored the second of the two, giving the Avalanche forward five points in the tournament so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s never easy to lose a lot of guys,\u201d Siegenthaler said. \u201cEspecially three in one day. But we have good depth. They did a pretty well job. It\u2019s all about that. Some players had some other roles today. Some bigger roles, some smaller roles. I think at the end it\u2019s just about accepting your role. Just doing it for our country and it\u2019s a short tournament. You just want to do whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler traded their Devils red for Swiss red, and helped&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,5,576,151,5185,5184,4,1602,2602,43,2787,31286],"class_list":{"0":"post-459518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-new-jersey-devils","12":"tag-newjersey","13":"tag-newjerseydevils","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-nico-hischier","16":"tag-olympics","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-winter-olympics","19":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116078637468746776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459518","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=459518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}