Takeaways: U.S. survives Swayman’s shaky start, Slovakia wins despite loss

On Saturday in Milano Cortina, Jeremy Swayman fulfilled a longtime dream of starting a matchup for Team USA at the Olympic Games. But less than two minutes into the contest against Denmark, the start looked more like a nightmare for the Bruins netminder. 

Certainly, no one — especially not Swayman himself — expected the starting goaltender to let in a weak goal just 1:40 into the game to go down 1-0. And even fewer saw the second goal coming. 

In fact, it seemed like Swayman didn’t see it at all. Near the midway point of the first period, Denmark’s Nicholas B. Jensen fired a puck from just inside the centre line and was as shocked as anyone to see it zip right past Swayman’s shoulder and into the back of the net. 

It was more than enough to question whether head coach Mike Sullivan might choose to start fresh in the second period with Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes, but Sullivan stuck with Swayman. And while it’s hard to say Swayman really rewarded the decision — he let in one more in the dying seconds of the second period to give Denmark a big confidence boost heading into the third — the team in front of him rallied for the 6-3 victory. 

It wasn’t just Swayman who looked a little off rhythm at the rink on Saturday, though. Despite the win, Team USA has yet to really hit its stride offensively, and found itself trailing heading into the second period until Brady Tkachuk tied things up at the halfway point of the game. From there, we started to see what the Americans can do, and there was little question about whether they’d claim the win by the time Jake Guentzel cashed in on a perfect pass from Auston Matthews seven minutes into the third period. 

Now the question for Team USA becomes: Can it claim the top seed heading into the quarterfinals? As the only team with two wins in its grouping at this point and just one matchup remaining against Germany on Sunday, its place atop the Group C standings is pretty much locked in. But if the Americans want to catch Canada for the No. 1 seed going into the elimination rounds, they’ll need to avoid another slow start offensively. Canada, which plays France on Sunday, currently has a plus-9 goal differential. Team USA’s sits at seven. 

Things could get really interesting as round-robin matchups wrap on Sunday. As we saw in Group B, goal differential certainly counts for a lot in this tournament…

Sweden’s win over Slovakia feels like a loss

It’s not often you see a team with a two-goal lead pull its goalie in the final minute of play, or a losing squad erupt in celebration after falling by two goals, but that was the scene at the conclusion of Saturday’s Group B matchup between Slovakia and Sweden.

Sweden’s 5-3 victory over Slovakia in Milano Cortina brought their round-robin record to 2-1, locking in all three of Sweden, Slovakia, and Finland (which blew out host Italy later on Saturday) with matching records atop the Group B standings. Head-to-head records among these three teams don’t help break the tie — Slovakia beat Finland, but lost to Sweden; Sweden beat Slovakia, but lost to Finland; and Finland beat Sweden, but lost to Slovakia — so the standings turn instead to head-to-head goal differential. With that in mind, Sweden needed to defeat Slovakia by at least three goals in order to leapfrog both squads for the top seed and a bye to the quarterfinals. With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Sweden was on pace to do exactly that.

Until Slovakia’s Dalibor Dvorsky tucked one past Swedish netminder Jacob Markstrom on the power play with 39 seconds left to narrow Sweden’s win margin to two goals and personally escort the Tres Kronors down to third place in group standings while launching Slovakia into the coveted top spot in Group B. 

Sweden made a last-ditch effort to regain its three-goal lead by pulling Markstrom for a sixth attacker, but couldn’t earn it back. Instead of celebrating a win, Sweden marked its victory with a heavy dose of disappointment and what-ifs as it watched Slovakia celebrate its Group B victory despite losing the game. 

Slovakian forward Juraj Slafkovský, who is launching himself into Olympic hero status with a sensational start at these Games, said it best post-game when he called his country’s 5-3 loss, “the best loss I ever had.”

Raymond plays hero, then crashes back down to earth

Of the late-game what-ifs no doubt milling through the minds of Team Sweden’s players, the one plaguing star forward Lucas Raymond is surely the heaviest. Raymond scored a gorgeous goal midway through the third period to give Sweden a three-goal lead. It was his first career Olympic marker, and it was a stunner.

Raymond’s offensive efforts were huge in this matchup, as were Elias Pettersson’s — Pettersson scored twice Saturday, marking perhaps a turning point for Sweden’s sluggish offence thus far. 

But then, with just over three minutes remaining in what was then a 5-2 game, Raymond took a slashing penalty that proved detrimental. The penalty was an easy call for the officials, and cracked the door open for Slovakia to gain back some ground and take control. It was a bad look for Sweden, and for Raymond, at the worst time. 

Finns finish strong against Italy

Finland’s offence was slow to ignite in the early goings of these Olympic Games, registering just a single goal in its tournament-opening loss to Slovakia on Wednesday. But it has since hit its stride. A four-goal outing to defeat the Swedes Friday brought a confidence boost, and on Saturday against host nation Italy, there was really no contest. 

Finland’s 11-0 victory over Italy saw seven different goal-scorers get on the board, with 12 players registering a multi-point game. Sebastian Aho, Kaapo Kakko, Mikael Granlund, and Joel Kiviranta each had two goals in the victory, while Kakko, Artturi Lehkonen, and Mikko Rantanen led the club in points with three each. 

The win ensured the Finns maintained their second-place standing in Group B, and surely has the team feeling plenty confident after a shaky start to the tournament, but the inflated goal differential with that victory may have just earned them a direct trip to the quarterfinals, too. In addition to the top team from each of the three groups, the best team to finish second in their respective grouping will also get a bye, leaving the tournament’s remaining eight teams to battle in the qualifying round. Because records are so tight, that honour is likely to come down to goal differential. 

Latvia rallies against Germany for milestone win

When Germany’s Lukas Reichel opened the scoring just over two minutes into Saturday’s game against Latvia, it looked like we might be in for a lopsided win for the Germans. Even late in the first frame, when Latvia fought back to tie things 1-1 on the power play, Germany looked firmly in control thanks to its own quick response to regain their lead.

But then things changed, with Latvia scoring three straight goals — another power-play marker midway through the second frame, then a pair at even-strength in the third — to change the tide and control the game for itself.

After holding off a late push from Germany, Latvia prevailed 4-3 for its first Olympic men’s hockey victory since Sochi 2014. 

With plenty still to be settled in the Group C standings, Latvia has a real opportunity to claim the group’s second spot with a second straight victory on Sunday when it takes on Denmark. Germany, meanwhile, will wrap up its group play against Team USA — a game Canadians will surely be keeping tabs on as everyone zeros in on goal differential as we prepare for the next stage of the Olympic tournament.