Fans said goodbye to four different countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament on Tuesday, and only eight remain in the hunt for a medal this year.
Germany eliminated France in the qualification round, which also saw Team Switzerland and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman JJ Moser send host country Italy home with a 3-0 shutout.
Bolts forward Oliver Bjorkstrand and Denmark saw their tournament come to a close in a tight 3-2 loss to Czechia on Tuesday afternoon.
Sweden and Latvia then played in a game that featured three Bolts. Captain Victor Hedman and forward Pontus Holmberg came out on the winning side of that one, ending the tournament for Lightning teammate Zemgus Girgensons and his countrymen in Latvia.
GERMANY 5, FRANCE 1
Team Germany never trailed in their early game to eliminate France on Tuesday.
Captain Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring with a power-play one-timer in the first period, and Frederik Tiffels made it 2-0 with a shot at the left post following a France turnover. JJ Peterka buried a backhand chance to make it 3-0 late in the first period.
France got its lone goal from former Bolts forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the second period.
Germany’s Josh Samanski then scored on a rebound on the power play in the third period, and the team added an empty-net goal late.
Draisaitl led Germany with a goal and two assists, and goalie Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves in the win that qualifies his team for the quarterfinal round on Wednesday.
Scoring Summary
First period
GER 1, FRA 0
3:40 Leon Draisaitl (2) - Josh Samanski, Tim Stützle - PP
GER 2, FRA 0
10:54 Frederik Tiffels (1) - Unassisted
GER 3, FRA 0
18:13 - JJ Peterka (1) - Tim Stützle
Shots on goal: GER 13, FRA 4
Second period
GER 3, FRA 1
4:02 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (1) - Jordann Perret
Shots on goal: GER 13, FRA 10
Third period
GER 4, FRA 1
7:01 Samanski (1) - Draisaitl, Moritz Seider - PP
GER 5, FRA 1
19:04 Nico Sturm (1) - Draisaitl, Tobias Rieder - EN
Total shots: GER 36, FRA 31
TBL Player Summary
- Wojciech Stachowiak (GER): DNP
SWITZERLAND 3, ITALY 0
Team Switzerland and Lightning defenseman JJ Moser advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals with a shutout victory on Tuesday that eliminated host country Italy.
San Jose Sharks forward Philipp Kurashev opened the scoring with his shot from the bottom of the right circle 1:19 into the game, and Switzerland added power-play goals from defenseman Roman Josi and forward Nico Hischier for the win.
Moser played 17 minutes, 38 seconds, which marked the second-highest time on ice among Swiss defensemen and trailed only Josi.
Hischier scored a goal and two assists to lead Switzerland in scoring, and New Jersey Devils teammate Timo Meier had two assists. Goalie Leonardo Genoni made 20 saves for the shutout.
Scoring Summary
First period
SUI 1, ITA 0
1:19 Philipp Kurashev (1) - Nico Hischier, Timo Meier
SUI 2, ITA 0
10:25 Roman Josi (2) - Sven Andrighetto, HIschier - PP
Shots on goal: SUI 18, ITA 2
Second period
None.
Shots on goal: SUI 14, ITA 10
Third period
SUI 3, ITA 0
5:53 Hischier (1) - Damien Riat, Meier - PP
Total shots: SUI 51, ITA 20
TBL Player Summary
- JJ Moser (SUI): 17:38 TOI, 2 SOG, 2 PIM.
CZECHIA 3, DENMARK 2
A second period goal flurry and a comeback effort for Denmark fell just short on Tuesday as Czechia held on to beat the Danes and advance to the quarterfinals.
Martin Necas opened the scoring with a one-timer on the power play five minutes into the second period, but Alexander True tied the game four minutes later.
David Kampf restored Czechia’s lead at the midway point of the second period, and Czechia forward Roman Cervenka made it 3-1 with a rush chance from the left circle. A Denmark power-play goal from Nick Olesen with 2:48 left in the middle period made it 3-2, but no offense was found from there despite a late push by Denmark.
Necas and Cervenka each had two points to lead all players, and Czechia goalie Lukas Dostal made 24 saves on 26 shots against.
Lightning forward Oliver Bjorkstrand fired a team-high four shots on goal for Denmark and finished the 2026 Winter Olympics with an assist in four games.
Scoring Summary
First period
None.
Shots on goal: CZE 8, DEN 5
Second period
CZE 1, DEN 0
5:39 Martin Necas (3) - Filip Hronek, Roman Cervenka - PP
CZE 1, DEN 1
9:02 Alexander True (1) - Joachim Blichfeld
CZE 2, DEN 1
10:15 David Kampf (1) - Jan Rutta, Necas
CZE 3, DEN 1
11:24 Cervenka (2) - David Pastrnak
CZE 3, DEN 2
17:12 Nick Olesen (4) - Oscar Fisker Molgaard, Blichfeld - PP
Shots on goal: CZE 18, DEN 8
Third period
None.
Total shots: CZE 31, DEN 26
TBL Player Summary
- Oliver Bjorkstrand (DEN): 20:16 TOI, 4 SOG.
SWEDEN 5, LATVIA 1
The Swedes handed Team Latvia and Bolts forward Zemgus Girgensons a 5-1 loss in their qualification playoff game on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
The opening goal went to Team Sweden on a shot from the top of the zone which caromed off the skate of forward Adrian Kempe and into the net 10:55 into the game, and captain Gabriel Landeskog buried a loose puck in front of the Latvia net 41 seconds later to make it 2-0.
Filip Forsberg scored the 3-0 goal in the second period, crashing the cage for a tap-in at the right post off a pass from Erik Karlsson.
Latvia got its goal on a rebound chance for forward Eduards Tralmaks 10:47 into the second period, but Mika Zibanejad housed a one-timer from the left circle early in the third for a 4-1 advantage. William Nylander then added a backhand finish in tight to make it 5-1.
Lucas Raymond led Sweden with three assists, and goalie Jacob Markstrom finished with 20 saves.
Girgensons ends his 2026 Olympics with four assists in four games.
Scoring Summary
First period
SWE 1, LAT 0
10:55 Adrian Kempe (2) - Joel Eriksson Ek, William Nylander
SWE 2, LAT 0
11:36 Gabriel Landeskog (2) - Lucas Raymond, Mika Zibanejad
Shots on goal: SWE 10, LAT 6
Second period
SWE 3, LAT 0
7:36 Filip Forsberg (1) - Erik Karlsson, Philip Broberg
SWE 3, LAT 1
10:47 Eduards Tralmaks (3) - Aberts Smits, Teddy Blueger
Shots on goal: SWE 9, LAT 8
Third period
SWE 4, LAT 1
5:54 Zibanejad (2) - Raymond, Landeskog
SWE 5, LAT 1
13:18 Nylander (2) - Raymond, Dahlin
Total shots: SWE 28, LAT 21
TBL Player Summary
- Victor Hedman (SWE): 19:40 TOI, 2 PIM.
- Pontus Holmberg (SWE): 11:12 TOI.
- Zemgus Girgensons (LAT): 23:10 TOI, 5 SOG.
What’s Next?
The winning teams from Tuesday face a quick turnaround for the quarterfinals, set for Wednesday.
Germany will play Slovakia and Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak at 6:10 a.m. ET, a game followed by Brandon Hagel and Team Canada playing Czechia at 10:40 a.m.
Moser will look to help Switzerland take down Finland, a team with no Lightning representatives, in the 12:10 p.m. game before Team USA and Jake Guentzel face Sweden in the 3:10 p.m. quarterfinal.
