Finland Upsets Sweden in Olympic Hockey, Canada & Slovakia Also Win

MILAN — Finland reignited its Olympic campaign with a decisive 4-1 victory over archrival Sweden in men’s hockey group stage play Friday, February 13, 2026. The win, coming after an opening-game loss to Slovakia, puts Finland back in contention for a quarterfinal berth.

Joel Armia scored a short-handed goal for Finland, while Olli Maatta emphasized the team’s determination, stating, “Everybody was fired up for this, and I’m sure they were, too. These are unbelievable games to play in, and I’m very happy with the win today. We’ve just got to build off that.”

The match was characterized by physical play, including pushing and shoving at the end of the second period, though the intensity was tempered compared to the 2006 Turin Games final between the two nations, a game Sweden won.

Anton Lundell also found the back of the net for Finland in the first period and crucially prevented a Swedish goal later in the third, sweeping the puck off the goal line to maintain his team’s lead. “I don’t really know what happened, but all of sudden the puck was going in the net and I was lucky to be close and I was lucky that nobody pushed it in before me,” Lundell said.

Finland’s goaltender, Juuse Saros, was instrumental in the victory, making 34 saves. Saros received praise for his performance, with a teammate noting, “Obviously a big thanks to him.”

The Finns gained a second-period advantage on a penalty kill when Erik Haula shielded the puck from three Swedish players and passed to Armia for a 3-1 lead. Finland had initially taken a 2-0 lead in the first period. Rasmus Dahlin scored Sweden’s lone goal on a power play in the second period, narrowing the gap to 2-1.

Nikolas Matinpalo opened the scoring for Finland with a wrist shot that deflected off Filip Gustavsson’s glove and the post. Matinpalo had not played in Finland’s first game and scored his first goal of the season.

Eetu Luostarinen’s work in the corner set up a goal by Anton Lundell, with the puck deflecting off Lundell’s stick and past Gustavsson to extend Finland’s lead.

Tensions flared in the closing seconds of the second period, resulting in three players from each team heading to the penalty box.

Mikko Rantanen added an empty-net goal for Finland to seal the 4-1 victory.

Elsewhere in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament on Friday, February 13, 2026, Canada defeated Switzerland 5-1. Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby both scored for Canada, with Nathan MacKinnon contributing a goal and two assists. Macklin Celebrini and Thomas Harley also scored for the Canadians.

McDavid scored his first Olympic goal on a first-period power play, receiving a pass from MacKinnon and beating Swiss goaltender Akira Schmid with a wrist shot. Crosby nearly scored shortly after, but Schmid denied his breakaway attempt with a remarkable save.

Pius Suter scored the lone goal for Switzerland. However, the Swiss team suffered a blow late in the game when Kevin Fiala sustained a leg injury and was taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Slovakia defeated Italy 3-2, with Adam Ruzicka scoring the game-winning goal in the third period. Czechia defeated France 6-3.