Team USA men’s hockey easily handled Latvia in their opening game of the 2026 Winter Olympics, securing a 5-1 victory. The focus now turns to their second round-robin game against Denmark on Saturday at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Denmark lost their opener 3-1 to Germany but played better than the scoreline suggests. They outshot the Germans 38-25 but struggled to contain the star power of Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stützle.
The Americans are heavy favourites against the Danes, but can’t overlook their opponent. While Denmark has just five NHL players on its roster, it has some talent in key positions, including in net, where Carolina Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen can get hot.
If Team USA plays as they did against Latvia, especially over the last two periods, this shouldn’t be close. Their forward depth was brilliant as Brock Nelson and Jack Hughes, who both started near the bottom of the lineup, had multi-point games and were some of the team’s best players.
Here are three things to keep an eye on beyond just the box score as Team USA takes the next step in their tournament.
Does Mike Sullivan change up the ice-time distribution?
The Americans got big contributions from some of their fourth-line forwards. Nelson scored twice while playing 13:25, and Jack Hughes was similarly effective in just 11:14 of ice time.
Denmark projects to be another easy victory, so there isn’t a ton of pressure on head coach Mike Sullivan to pull out any tricks, but he will want to get his lineup optimized as they head towards the elimination round.
While a player like Nelson isn’t as big a name as some of the Americans’ top-six forwards, his 29 NHL goals are good for 10th in the league so far this year, and he’s clearly playing very well. Will Sullivan stick to rolling the lines or reward the players who are going hot?
Will the Americans give another goalie a go?
Connor Hellebuyck got the nod for the USA’s first game and made 17 saves, allowing just the single goal. He wasn’t tested with too many high-quality scoring chances, but it was overall a strong performance for the NHL’s reigning Hart Trophy winner.
The Americans had Friday off before playing a back-to-back on Saturday (against Denmark) and Sunday (against Germany). That schedule gives them a good chance to give another goalie a start over the weekend.
The game against Germany is expected to be the toughest for Team USA in the round-robin. Could we see Sullivan give Jeremy Swayman, who has been great this year with the Boston Bruins, or Jake Oettinger, the assignment against Denmark? That would then free up Hellebuyck to get some rest and play against Germany without going through the back-to-back.
Goaltending is so important in a short tournament like this. One goalie getting hot can be the difference between winning and losing in the elimination rounds. Making sure that the USA has found the best goalie for this tournament is crucial over the weekend.
How does Denmark’s top line perform?
While Denmark has just a handful of NHL players, their top line is quite solid. Nikolaj Ehlers and Oliver Bjorkstrand, both very good NHL wingers, are centered by Alexander True, a 28-year-old playing in Finland.
Ehlers had three shots, True had three shots, and Bjorkstrand had seven shots in Denmark’s opening game. That’s a lot of offensive production, even if it didn’t lead to any actual goals.
The Americans have what’s widely seen as the best defense in the tournament and will face tougher first lines in future games. However, this Danish trio should give them a bigger challenge than anything they saw against Latvia and offer a chance for the defense to get stress-tested.
Looking Ahead
The early results at the Milano Cortina Olympics seem to indicate hockey fans will get what they want. Both Canada and the USA looked dominant in their opening games, while Sweden and Finland have each already picked up one loss.
The Americans can’t afford to look too far ahead. The focus must be on beating Denmark and thenon what should be their toughest challenge of the round-robin stage against Germany on Sunday. If they win both games, they’ll get a bye into the quarter-finals.
