Team USA dominated Slovakia 6-2 on Friday to reach the gold-medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics. The Americans will face Canada in Sunday’s final.
The North American rivals are set to meet in the Olympic men’s hockey final for the first time since 2010. Canada holds a 2-0 record against the U.S. in Olympic gold-medal games, winning in 2002 and 2010.
Canada also beat the United States 3-2 in overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game in 2025. That event marked the first best-on-best tournament featuring NHL players since the 2014 Olympics.
Jack Hughes paced Team USA’s attack with two goals against Slovakia. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Eichel, and Brady Tkachuk also scored for the Americans.
Thompson didn’t play in the third period for precautionary reasons.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 22 shots for the victory. The goaltender has posted a .947 save percentage across five tournament starts.
A late-game scrum resulted in penalties for both teams. Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, and Erik Cernak all received 10-minute misconducts for unsportsmanlike conduct with under two minutes remaining.
Juraj Slafkovsky and Pavol Regenda scored Slovakia’s goals. Both tallies came in the third period after the Americans had built a commanding 5-0 lead.
Earlier Friday, Canada beat Finland 3-2 in the other semifinal. The Canadians erased a 2-0 deficit and took the lead on Nathan MacKinnon‘s go-ahead goal with 35 seconds left.
Both teams enter Sunday’s final undefeated in the tournament.
Medal Games Schedule
The gold-medal game is scheduled for Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET.
Slovakia will face Finland in the bronze-medal game Saturday at 2:40 p.m. ET. Finland is the defending Olympic gold medalist, while Slovakia captured bronze in 2022.
