It appeared as though Team USA was going to slide into the men’s hockey semi-finals at the Winter Olympics, but Sweden had other plans — giving us a lesson in why you can never assume victory in hockey. Mika Zibanejad scored with just 1:31 left on the clock with a pulled goalie, sending the game to overtime. From there, Quinn Hughes became the Team USA hero, rocketing a wrister past Jacob Markstrom on a partial screen from Auston Matthews to give USA the win, and move on to the semi-finals.
It wasn’t a pretty win, but pretty doesn’t matter. It was a back-and-forth game that took over 60 minutes to finish, the third overtime game on Wednesday.
The game’s first goal came in the second period courtesy of Dylan Larkin, who got a pinpoint deflection off a Jack Hughes slap shot to break through.
Sweden put up a mammoth fight, but strategically it was an expected performance from Team USA, who played a game that was an extension of what they’ve done for much of this tournament. A grinding forecheck, paired with a disciplined defense that didn’t allow many quality chances against Connor Hellebuyck. It helped that Sweden approached this game with a bizarrely timid offense that too often passed up 50/50 scoring chances to try and make an additional pass, which played into USA’s hands, considering their defense was designed around jamming up passing lanes and taking away opportunities.
The win for Team USA capped off a wholly unconvincing day of hockey in Milan with Canada and Finland also needing overtime to get past their opponents. It sets up the U.S. for a semi-final against Slovakia, who got a beneficial draw in the quarters to demolish Germany 6-2.
Of the remaining games there’s little doubt USA has the tougher path based on play style. Canada will meet Finland in the semi-final, who they match up with very well. Finland plays a finesse game that Canada can exploit, while Slovakia is the more physical team that can legitimately give USA a run for its money. The next games come on Friday with the semi-finals, then the bronze medal game on Saturday night, before the games close with the men’s gold medal game on Sunday.
