U.S. men's hockey team beats Slovakia 6-2 in Olympic semis, will face Canada in gold medal game
The U.S. men's hockey team rolled past Slovakia in a 6–2 victory Friday, clinching a spot in the Olympic gold medal showdown against Canada. The two sides will face off on Sunday.
Jack Hughes scored two goals, including one with a highlight-reel individual effort. The U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run and were simply overmatched.
It's the first time in 16 years that the U.S. men's hockey team has advanced to the gold medal match.
The last time the U.S. won gold in men's hockey was the "Miracle on Ice" team in the 1980 Winter Olympics, when the U.S. upset the Soviet Union 4–3.
In 2010, the U.S. took silver after losing to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby's famous golden goal. Crosby's status is uncertain this time after getting injured in the quarterfinals Wednesday and not playing Friday against Finland.
Canada's men's hockey team beat Finland 3-2 in the semifinals on Friday. Finland and Slovakia will play for the bronze on Saturday. Slovakia is looking for just its second hockey medal in the country's history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.
A year ago, the U.S. and Canada played two memorable games against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
That NHL-run event ended a drought of nearly a decade without an international tournament featuring the best hockey players in the world. Three fights in the first nine seconds in the first meeting put the 4 Nations in the spotlight, and their epic final won by Canada in overtime only built the anticipation for the Olympics.
The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Hughes and Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia's net past the midway point of the second period.
Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot. He was held out the rest of the way, according to the NBC broadcast.
Hughes got his second just after a power play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes left to provide some more breathing room.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a substantial margin. Everything he has done at the Olympics has validated coach Mike Sullivan's decision to go with Hellebuyck as the U.S. starter over Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.
The U.S. men's win comes one day after the U.S. women's team defeated Canada and won gold in a thrilling 2-1 overtime comeback.
U.S. men's hockey defeated Sweden 2-1 in overtime in its quarterfinal on Wednesday.
In the group stage last weekend, the U.S. beat Denmark 6-3 after overcoming an earlier deficit of 2-1 in the first period. On Feb. 12, the U.S. opened the Olympics by rolling past Latvia 5-1.
It's the first time since 2014 that NHL players have been eligible to compete in the Olympic Games. The league opted out of the Olympic Games in 2022 due to COVID-19, and restricted players in 2018, saying the games would disrupt the NHL season.