Olympic hockey: Auston Matthews, USA beats Slovakia 6-2 in semifinals, faces Canada in gold medal match

From a men’s hockey perspective, Slovakia was one of the better stories of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. After a long period of not being too competitive on the international stage, the surge they have received in recent years from young players like Juraj Slafkovsky, Simon Nemec and Dalibor Dvorsky has helped them regain prominence at international level. They claimed a silver medal at the 2022 Olympics (albeit without NHLers), but they proved that was no fluke with their performance in 2026, when they faced the United States in the semi-finals.

Unfortunately for them, the United States showed up and took names in their matchup, sending the Slovaks to the bronze medal game on Saturday and advancing themselves to the gold medal game on Sunday morning. It wasn’t a very competitive match, with the States winning 6-2.

Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin opened the scoring for Team USA just under five minutes into the game with helpers from Zach Werenski and Tage Thompson. They added a power-play goal near the end of the first period, with Tage Thompson finding the back of the net on assists from Jack Eichel and Quinn Hughes.

The States kept going in the second period, with Jack Hughes making it 3-0 just over halfway through the period. When Eichel made it 4-0 just 19 seconds later, it prompted Slovakia to withdraw goalkeeper Samuel Hlavaj and replace him with Stanislav Skorvanek. The States added one more before the period ended, with Jack Hughes finding the back of the net for a second time. Matthew Boldy grabbed the assist on the fifth goal.

Matthews and the Americans will face rival Canada in a classic gold medal showdown on Sunday morning, while Slovakia and Finland will battle for the bronze medal on Saturday.

PRESENTED BY DAILY FACEOFF OLYMPIC COVERAGE