At the Olympic Winter Games Milan Cortina 2026, Team Sweden skated off the ice at Santagiulia Arena on Saturday with a 5-3 victory over Team Slovakia — and a lingering sense of frustration.
The win should have secured Sweden’s path directly into the quarterfinals. Instead, a dramatic last-minute goal by Slovakian forward Dalibor Dvorsky with just 39 seconds remaining reshaped the Group B standings, handing Slovakia the coveted bye and forcing Sweden into Tuesday’s qualification round.
Sweden (2-0-0-1) received two goals from Elias Pettersson and a goal plus two assists from Lucas Raymond. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves in his first start of the tournament, helping the Swedes bounce back from a 4-1 loss to rival Finland just 24 hours earlier.
But as the final horn sounded, the celebration belonged to Slovakia.
With three teams — Sweden, Slovakia and Finland — finishing group play with six points, goal differential among the tied teams determined positioning. Because of Dvorsky’s late strike, Slovakia (2-0-0-1) claimed the top spot and a direct quarterfinal berth Wednesday. Finland, fresh off an 11-0 dismantling of Italy, finished second. Sweden slipped to third.
The final minute changed everything. Raymond had given Sweden what appeared to be an insurmountable 5-2 lead at 11:38 of the third period, dazzling through the Slovak defense on a beautiful individual effort. Earlier in the period, Pettersson made it 4-2 at 7:57 with a one-timer off a crisp cross-crease feed from Raymond.
Sweden’s offense flowed for much of the night. Pettersson had put the Swedes ahead 3-2 late in the second period at 14:29 after a slick setup from Filip Forsberg. Adrian Kempe’s power-play blast at 7:06 of the second — just five seconds after Pavol Regenda was penalized for kneeing — gave Sweden a 2-1 advantage. And Joel Eriksson Ek opened the scoring with a short-handed goal at 7:17 of the first period, breaking up a play at his own blue line before crashing the net to bury his own rebound.
Slovakia, however, refused to fade. Juraj Slafkovsky tied the game 1-1 at 8:59 of the first with a clean one-timer off a feed from defenseman Simon Nemec. The Montreal Canadiens forward, selected first overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, now has six points (three goals, three assists) in three Olympic games and is tied for the tournament scoring lead with Connor McDavid of Team Canada.
Slafkovsky’s early production places him in rare company for Slovakia in an NHL-participating Olympics, joining Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik as players to post at least five preliminary-round points.
Defenseman Martin Gernat pulled Slovakia even at 2-2 midway through the second, pouncing on a rebound before Markstrom could reset. Goaltender Samuel Hlavaj was under siege all night, turning aside 46 shots to keep his team within striking distance.
Then came the decisive sequence. With 2:38 remaining, Raymond took a slashing penalty that opened the door for Slovakia’s final push. Dvorsky capitalized, beating Markstrom to tilt the goal-differential math in Slovakia’s favor. As the puck crossed the line, Slafkovsky leapt in celebration as if his team had secured the victory outright — and in many ways, they had.
Sweden even pulled Markstrom despite holding a two-goal lead, desperately trying to reclaim the goal it had conceded. It wasn’t enough.
For Sweden, the performance was a marked improvement from its loss to Finland the night before. The puck movement was sharper, the attack more cohesive, and the finish clinical for much of the game. But at this stage of Olympic competition, the margins are razor thin.
Good things came for the Swedes throughout the night — until the final minute.
Now, instead of resting, Sweden must regroup quickly for a qualification-round showdown Tuesday, while Slovakia advances directly to the quarterfinals with momentum and belief firmly on its side.
