USA and Olympic Hockey Saturday Group Results Ahead of Men's KO Bracket

The United States men's hockey team faced a bit of challenge from Denmark on the way to its second group-stage win of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The Americans were trailing at the 30-minute mark of the contest in Milan, but then they used five goals to open up their advantage.

Team USA needs one point on Sunday to confirm a top-two seed in the knockout round.

The top seed is preferred, though, since Sweden will likely be the No. 7 seed. Sweden finished third in Group B.

Slovakia topped Group B thanks to a two-goal loss to Sweden and a three-way tiebreaker between the two teams and Finland.

Finland will most likely join Slovakia, Canada and the USA with automatic berths to the quarterfinals. Finland routed Italy 11-0 to all but wrap up the title of best second-place team.

Group B

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1 Slovakia (2-1; 6 points)

2. Finland (2-1; 6 points)

3. Sweden (2-1; 6 points)

4. Italy (0-3; 0 points)

Saturday Results

Sweden 5, Slovakia 3

Finland 11, Italy 0

One late goal in a losing effort by Slovakia altered the complexion of Group B, and potentially the entire men's hockey tournament.

Slovakia's late power-play goal to cut the deficit to 5-3 against Sweden altered the tiebreakers in its favor. The two-goal loss combined with Finland's regulation win over Italy handed Slovakia first in Group B.

Finland annihilated Italy in an attempt to solidify the top second-place position, which comes with an automatic spot in the quarterfinals.

Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, Kappo Kaako and Joel Kiviranta all scored twice for the Finns as they ran up their goal differential tally.

Finland can't be jumped by the second-place teams in Groups A and C on points, so the teams jockeying for position in those groups would have to beat Finland's +11 goal differential.

Sweden can finish no higher than seventh in the overall table because of its third-place spot in Group B. That means Sweden will likely face the USA or Canada in the quarterfinals as long as it wins its knockout-round playoff game against the No. 10 seed.

Group C

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Saturday Results

1 United States (2-0; 6 points)

2. Latvia (1-1; 3 points)

3. Germany (1-1; 3 points)

4. Denmark (0-2; 0 points)

United States 6, Denmark 3

Latvia 4, Germany 3

Team USA rebounded from a slow start to pull away from Denmark in its second group-stage game.

The Americans were down 2-1 halfway through the second period until Brady Tkachuk netted the equalizer.

Tkachuk was one of six goal scorers on Saturday night. Matt Boldy, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes were the other scorers.

The abundance of goals scored in the third period carried importance for Team USA since it is battling with Canada for the top seed in the knockout round.

Canada plays France on Sunday, a game that is expected to be a blowout, so the Americans have to find a way to match their goal tally to avoid Sweden in the quarterfinals. Canada is +9 and Team USA is +7.

Latvia added more congestion behind Team USA in Group C.

Latvia took over second place with its win over Germany. The Latvians took over that game in the third period with a pair of goals.

Latvia and Denmark will likely play each other for second place in the group on Sunday. Germany faces the United States, a game its expected to lose.