Led by a pair of goals from Brock Nelson (Warroad, Minn./Colorado Avalanche), the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team defeated Latvia, 5-1, in its first preliminary round game of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
“What a great atmosphere here tonight,” said Mike Sullivan, head coach of the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. “It was an important win to start the tournament for us against a difficult Latvia team. We had good energy on the bench and I thought our guys handled the game well overall.”
Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich./Detroit Red Wings) nearly opened the scoring 1:39 into the contest, as he corralled a rebound off a Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Columbus Blue Jackets) shot, but was unable to stuff the puck home on a net-front chance.
Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Ottawa Senators) found the back of the net at 5:29, rifling a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Latvia netminder Elvis Merzlinkins after a feed from his brother, Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Florida Panthers).
Latvia evened the game at 7:25. Renars Krastenbergs scored on a shot from the top of the crease during a net-front scramble.
Brady and Matthew Tkachuk had chances in quick succession off an offensive-zone faceoff with 38 seconds remaining, but neither found the back of the net.
Nelson gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead at 10:38 of the middle frame, as he gathered a centering pass from Jack Hughes (Canton, Mich./New Jersey Devils), then deked past Merzlinkins and backhanded the puck home.
Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./Buffalo Sabres) scored a power-play goal at 17:35 of the second stanza to extend Team USA’s lead to two, lifting a backhanded shot over the shoulder of Merzlinkins near the crease.
Nelson added his second of the game with 12 ticks left in the period, as Jack Hughes delivered a cross-ice pass to his stick, which Nelson tapped into the back of the net to give the U.S. a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz./Toronto Maple Leafs) tallied Team USA’s second power-play goal of the game at the 2:34 mark of the third, ripping a shot from the slot home after a pass from Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights).
U.S. netminder Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce, Mich./Winnipeg Jets) made a stellar blocker save with 7:08 left in the third, denying Latvia on a shot from the slot. He finished the contest with 17 saves, securing the 5-1 win for Team USA.
Team USA is back in action Saturday (Feb. 14) for a preliminary round game against Denmark. Puck drop at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena is slated for 9:10 p.m. CET (3:10 p.m. ET) and the game will be broadcast on USA Network and streamed on Peacock.
NOTES: Team USA outshot Latvia, 38-18 … The U.S. went 2-3 on the power play, while Latvia went 0-3 … The U.S. Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team improves to 12-0-2-8-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) in opening games of Olympic tournaments.
(info courtesy of USA Hockey)
