MILAN — The American men made good on what hockey fans across North America have wanted since the 2026 Winter Olympics began: USA vs. Canada for the gold medal.
USA delivered on its end by routing Slovakia, 6-2, on Feb. 20, hours after Canada defeated Finland, 3-2 in the first semifinal of the day at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
USA and Canada will meet Sunday, Feb. 22 (8 a.m. ET) to settle who gets gold and who gets silver. The match falls three days after the women’s hockey finale, in which the USA women defeated Canada to claim gold.
Now the men are down to the medal games.
While Canada didn’t score until past the midpoint of its game, USA got on the scoreboard at 4:19 when Dylan Larkin caught a pass from Zach Werenski, skated up the left flank and unleashed a shot from the left circle that flew by Samuel Hlavaj. The Slovaks — with seven NHLers on their roster to 25 for the Americans — worked hard to get an equalizer, registering eight shots on Connor Hellebyck, but USA took a 2-0 lead in the final minute when Tage Thompson converted during a power play, angling the puck from the bottom of the left circle short-side at 19:19.
Thompson did not finish the game after blocking a shot with his foot in the second period. With USA up by five goals after two periods, there was leeway to have him come off early.
Quinn Hughes, who scored the overtime goal that sent USA to the semis, assisted on Thompson’s to extend his point streak to five games.
The U.S. took command in the second period, running up a 10-2 edge in shots around the midpoint. Matt Boldy put the puck in the net, but officials immediately waived off it off because he kicked it in. There was nothing to dispute the next time the puck went in: Jack Hughes maneuvered the puck around multiple defenders to score his second goal of the tournament.
Nineteen seconds later, Jack Eichel followed suit, and the Slovaks pulled Hlavaj for Stanislav Skorvanek. Hughes scored again with 1:36 to play as USA continued its rout, putting Slovakia on a path to face Finland for Bronze.
Juraj Slafkovksy ruined Hellebyuck’s shutout bid five minutes into the third period. That was the 21-year-old forward’s fourth goal and eighth point in five Olympic games.
Brady Tkachuk added a goal midway through the third period, and Pavol Regenda countered for Slovakia at 13:17.
Several USA players had multi-point games including Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Zach Werenski, Eichel Hughes and Thompson.
Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers) and Erik Cernak (Tampa Bay Lightning) got into it in the final minutes, shoving and jabbing, earning misconducts from officials to get them out of the game.
