At the Olympic Winter Games Milan Cortina 2026, Team Finland delivered one of the most dominant performances of the men’s ice hockey preliminary round, overwhelming host nation Italy 11-0 on Saturday in a statement victory that could have major seeding implications.
Coming off an emotional 4-1 win over rival Sweden the night before, Finland (2-0-1-0) showed no signs of fatigue in the back-to-back. Instead, they unleashed a relentless offensive barrage, with 14 different players recording at least one point. The lopsided win secured second place in Group B and kept Finland in the hunt for the tournament’s lone wild card berth directly into Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Slovakia claimed the top spot in Group B and the automatic quarterfinal berth. Slovakia, Finland and Sweden all finished with identical records, but Slovakia secured first place on goal differential despite a 5-3 loss to Sweden earlier Saturday. Sweden, as a result, cannot be seeded higher than seventh and must play in Tuesday’s qualification round.
Sebastian Aho opened the scoring at 6:49 of the first period, banging home a pass from Mikko Rantanen to make it 1-0. Less than three minutes later, Mikael Granlund doubled the lead at 9:31, again off a Rantanen assist. The Colorado Avalanche star became just the second Finnish player in Olympic history to record multiple assists in the opening period of a game featuring NHL players, joining the legendary Teemu Selanne, who accomplished the feat on Feb. 16, 1998.
Kaapo Kakko made it 3-0 just 47 seconds after Granlund’s goal, scoring at 10:18 to cap a stunning three-goal outburst in under four minutes. Italy never recovered.
Finland’s offensive depth overwhelmed the Italians throughout the night. Joel Kiviranta deflected a slap shot from Niko Mikkola past goaltender Damian Clara at 4:04 of the second period to push the lead to 4-0. Kakko struck again at 7:39 to make it 5-0, and Granlund added his second of the game at 17:36, finishing a beautiful feed from Kakko to stretch the margin to 6-0 after two periods.
Finland has now outscored opponents 15-1 since its only blemish of the tournament — a 4-1 loss to Slovakia on Wednesday.
Miro Heiskanen scored on the power play just 1:01 into the frame to make it 7-0. Artturi Lehkonen followed 33 seconds later, and Aho netted his second at 3:43 to push the count to 9-0.
Joel Armia made it 10-0 at 13:26, and Kiviranta capped the scoring at 17:13 for the 11-0 final.
Kakko finished with two goals and an assist, while Granlund, Aho and Kiviranta each scored twice. Lehkonen had a goal and two assists, and both Armia and Heiskanen recorded a goal and an assist.
Rantanen quietly orchestrated the attack with three assists. Mikkola, Rasmus Ristolainen, Eetu Luostarinen and Erik Haula each contributed two assists in the offensive explosion.
In net, Juuse Saros — starting both ends of the back-to-back — made 15 saves to record the shutout. Clara stopped 34 shots through two periods for Italy (0-0-3-0) before Davide Fadani turned aside 21 in relief.
Finland’s +11 goal differential Saturday could prove decisive. With goal differential serving as a key tiebreaker, the emphatic win keeps Finland in contention for the No. 4 overall seed and the final direct quarterfinal berth, depending on results from Sunday’s remaining preliminary-round games.
Whether they secure the wild card or are forced into the qualification round, Finland has sent a clear message to the rest of the tournament: after a shaky start, they are surging — and peaking at the right time in Milano Cortina.
