Slovakia vs. Sweden Men's Hockey Bronze-Medal Game Live-Stream Schedule

The Slovakia men's ice hockey team knocked out the previously unbeaten United States in the quarterfinals of the medal round at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. However, the Slovaks couldn't keep that momentum going into the semifinals.

Early Friday morning, Slovakia fell 2-0 to Finland, the only unbeaten team remaining in the men's event. Although the Slovaks couldn't advance to the gold-medal game, they'll have an opportunity to capture their first medal since they began competing as an independent nation at the Olympics in 1994, as they're set to take on Sweden in Saturday's bronze-medal game.

Sweden lost to the Russian Olympic Committee in the semifinals on Friday, which sent it to the bronze-medal game. The ROC beat the Swedes 2-1, outlasting them in an eight-round shootout.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into Saturday.

Bronze-Medal Game

Date: Saturday, Feb. 19

Start Time: 8:10 a.m. ET

TV: CNBC

Live Stream: Peacock, NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com

Preview

Even though Slovakia is 3-3, it will have an opportunity to leave Beijing with a bronze medal. But in order for that to happen, the Slovaks will need to take down Sweden.

Slovakia got off to a slow start at the Winter Games, as it lost back-to-back matches to Finland and Sweden to open the preliminary round. However, the Slovaks then defeated Latvia and won a qualification game against Germany to make it to the medal round.

In the quarterfinals, Slovakia notched its most impressive win of the Olympics thus far, as it beat the United States 3-2. Marek Hrivik scored a game-tying goal with 44 seconds to go in the third period, then the Slovaks went on to win in a shootout, during which Peter Cehlarik scored the lone goal.

After scoring at least three goals in each contest during its three-game winning streak, Slovakia was blanked for the first time in the Winter Games in its semifinal loss to Finland. Now, the Slovaks will look to get back on track offensively so they don't have to settle for a fourth-place finish in Beijing.

"It's a big thing that we made it to semifinals, but now we still have [an] unfinished job in here and we need to do our best [Saturday] that we can bring the medal home," Slovakia forward Juraj Slafkovsky said, per Steve Keating and Amy Tennery of Reuters.

When Slovakia and Sweden faced off in the preliminary round, it wasn't a competitive contest. Sweden scored three first-period goals and went on to earn a 4-1 victory. The Slovaks didn't score a goal until there was only one minute and 42 seconds remaining in the game.

This time, Slovakia will be looking for a different result. However, Sweden will be a tough opponent, even though it's coming off a semifinal loss to the Russian Olympic Committee.

The Swedes went 2-1 in the preliminary round, with their only loss coming against Finland, which is now in the gold-medal game. They defeated Canada in the quarterfinals, grabbing a 2-0 win that was among their most impressive of the Winter Games.

Sweden will have an opportunity to earn an Olympic medal for the first time since 2014, when it fell to Canada in the gold-medal game. The Swedes have won the bronze four times, but their most recent was in 1988.

Sweden goaltender Lars Johansson has been playing quite well. In the quarterfinals, he stopped all 22 of Canada's shot attempts. Then in the semifinals, he recorded 39 saves and had allowed only one goal heading into the shootout against the Russian Olympic Committee.

Although Slovakia is going to need to generate more offense, Johansson will likely make it tough to do so. If the Slovaks can find a way to score multiple goals, then that could be enough for them to take down the Swedes and earn the bronze.

However, Sweden will likely be the favorite in this matchup. It will just need to move past its tough loss to the ROC and bounce back with a strong performance.