Martin Pospisil and Slovakia collected their second Olympic win with a 3-2 victory over Italy on Friday.
The forward once again centered Milos Kelemen and Pavel Regenda, putting one shot on net and logging 14:01 of ice time in the win.
Slovakia received goals from Libor Hudacek, Matus Sukel, and Adam Ruzicka, while netminder Stanislav Skorvanek made 20 saves. Italy's Matt Bradley and Dustin Gazley found the back of the net. Between the pipes, Davide Fadani made 28 saves on 30 shots and Damian Clara stopped seven of the eight shots he faced.
Slovakia is back in action on Saturday when they close out their preliminary round schedule against Sweden at 4:10 a.m. MT.
The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 marks the fifth time Pospisil has represented Slovakia on the international stage. He helped his country qualify for the Olympics when he picked up three points in three games at the qualifers in 2024. He skated for Slovakia at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, registering seven points in seven games, and also played his home nation at the U18 and U20 levels.
Pospisil, who was sidelined with an injury this season and returned to play in January, has skated in seven games with the Flames this season. Drafted by Calgary in the fourth round in 2018, Pospisil has played in 151 NHL games, with 12 goals and 49 points to his name.
