Slovakia wins Olympic hockey group despite losing final game

Slovakia Wins Olympic Group B Despite 5-3 Loss to Sweden

Dalibor Dvorsky’s goal with 39 seconds remaining on Saturday transformed a defeat into a celebration for Slovakia, which clinched Group B at the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament despite falling 5-3 to Sweden in Milan.

The late power-play tally proved decisive hours later when Finland routed host Italy 11-0, creating a three-way tie atop the group at six points and triggering a tiebreaker scenario that swung Slovakia’s way.sportsnet

A Goal That Changed Everything

All three teams finished group play with identical 2-1 records, with each victory coming in regulation. With the first tiebreaker — points in head-to-head games — producing another tie, goal differential among the three teams became the determining factor.sportsnet

Slovakia’s mathematics worked out to a +1 differential in head-to-head play after defeating Finland 4-1 and losing to Sweden 5-3. Finland finished at even, while Sweden fell to -1 after their 4-1 loss to the Finns.sportsnet

“It’s probably the best loss I ever had,” said Juraj Slafkovsky, the Montreal Canadiens forward who scored his third goal of the tournament in the game and leads all skaters with six points. “It’s crazy, but we take it.”foxsports

The sequence unfolded after Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond took a slashing penalty against Slovakia captain Tomas Tatar with 2:38 remaining, giving the Slovaks a critical man advantage. Dvorsky, a St. Louis Blues forward, capitalized by jamming home a rebound to cut the deficit to two.nhl

Sweden’s Unusual Response

Understanding the tiebreaker implications, Sweden pulled goaltender Jacob Markstrom with a two-goal lead in the final seconds, attempting to score and reclaim the goal differential advantage. The gambit failed.nhl

“That’s the rules of the tournament, so we were prepared for that,” Slovakia forward Milos Kelemen said. “It was like a special situation, but we played well in our defensive zone, and yeah, we lose the game, but we got what we want.”nhl

Elias Pettersson scored twice for Sweden, while Raymond finished with a goal and two assists before his costly penalty.detroithockeynow

Tournament Implications

As Group B winner, Slovakia earns a bye directly to the quarterfinals, skipping the qualification playoff round. Finland secured second place in the group after their dominant shutout victory, in which Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund, Kaapo Kakko, and Joel Kiviranta each scored twice.nhl

Sweden’s third-place finish puts them on a potential collision course with either Canada or the United States in the quarterfinals.russianmachineneverbreaks