Lightning players Hagel, Cernak and Guentzel reach Olympic medal round

Wednesday’s quarterfinal games in the men’s hockey bracket at the 2026 Winter Olympics were accompanied by late theatrics and plenty of overtime.

Three Tampa Bay Lightning players aided their respective teams to wins, advancing to the semifinals with a chance to medal at this year’s games.

Erik Cernak helped open the scoring for Slovakia in a 6-2 win over Germany on Wednesday morning, and Lightning teammate Brandon Hagel provided a netfront screen on Team Canada’s game-tying goal in a 4-3 overtime win over Czechia later in the day.

JJ Moser and Switzerland saw their tournament end with an overtime loss to Finland, and the schedule was capped by a Bolts-filled game between Team USA and Sweden, one that ended in a 2-1 overtime victory for Jake Guentzel and the Americans.

SLOVAKIA 6, GERMANY 2

Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak earned his first point of the 2026 Winter Olympics and became the first Bolt to punch their ticket to the semifinals with Team Slovakia’s 6-2 win over Germany on Wednesday.

Cernak’s blasted shot from the point gave Slovakia a 1-0 lead late in the first period after being redirected by forward Pavol Regenda, who led Slovakia in scoring with two goals and an assist.

Slovakia scored twice in 33 seconds to open the second period with a 3-0 lead, and forward Dalibor Dvorsky made it 4-0 midway through the period.

Germany got its first goal with five minutes left in the middle frame off the stick of Lukas Reichel, but Regenda scored his second goal of the day 58 seconds into the third period for a 5-1 lead. Frederik Tiffels made it 5-2 before an empty-net goal for Slovakia ended Germany’s tournament.

Syracuse Crunch forward Wojciech Stachowiak finished his Olympics with one assist in two games for Germany.

Scoring Summary

First period

SVK 1, GER 0

18:06 Pavol Regenda (1) - Erik Cernak, Martin Fehervary

Shots on goal: SVK 18, GER 5

Second period

SVK 2, GER 0

4:01 Milos Kelemen (1) - Regenda

SVK 3, GER 0

4:34 Oliver Okuliar (1) - Libor Hudacek, Dalibor Dvorsky

SVK 4, GER 0

10:21 Dvorsky (3) - Okuliar, Patrik Koch

SVK 4, GER 1

14:59 Lukas Reichel (2) - Leon Draisaitl

Shots on goal: GER 9, SVK 5

Third period

SVK 5, GER 1

00:58 Regenda (2) - Koch, Martin Pospisil

SVK 5, GER 2

9:09 Frederik Tiffels (2) - Reichel, Moritz Müller

SVK 6, GER 2

16:33 Tomas Tatar (1) - Adam Ruzicka, Juraj Slafkovsky

Total shots: SVK 35, GER 27

TBL Player Summary

• Erik Cernak (SVK): Assist, 21:55 TOI, 2 SOG, +1.

• Wojciech Stachowiak (GER): DNP.

CANADA 4, CZECHIA 3 (OT)

The craziest game of the Olympics so far ended with an overtime victory for Team Canada and Lightning coach Jon Cooper.

Vegas forward Mitch Marner scored the game-winning goal 1:22 into 3-on-3 overtime, burying a backhand chance to send Team Canada to the semifinals with the 4-3 win.

Canada forward Connor McDavid forced a turnover in Czechia’s defensive zone and then set up youngster Macklin Celebrini for his fifth goal of the Olympics 3:05 into the game for a 1-0 lead.

Czechia tied it 1-1 on a backdoor pass to Lukas Sedlak from Roman Cervenka before the ninth minute after defenseman Radko Gudas broke up a Canada neutral zone play. Czechia then became the first team to take a lead over Canada with David Pastrnak’s one-timer on the power play from the left circle with five minutes left in the opening frame.

Canada got its tying goal on the power play in period two, as Nathan MacKinnon’s shot fooled Czechia goalie Lukas Dostal through a screen.

Palat accepted a drop pass on a 3-on-2 rush with 7:42 remaining in the game and fired a shot inside the left goalpost to make it 3-2 against the top-seeded Canadians, but Montreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki found the tying goal with 3:27 left in regulation by deflecting a point shot through the pads of Dostal.

Marner ended the game shortly into overtime, bursting through the Czechia defense and roofing a backhand shot into the top right corner of the net for the win.

Celebrini led Canada with a goal and two assists, and McDavid had two assists. Cervenka led Czechia with two helpers.

Scoring Summary

First period

CAN 1, CZE 0

3:05 Macklin Celebrini (5) - Connor McDavid

CAN 1, CZE 1

8:34 Lukas Sedlak (1) - Roman Cervenka, Radko Gudas

CZE 2, CAN 1

14:49 David Pastrnak (2) - Filip Hronek, Cervenka - PP

Shots on goal: CAN 11, CZE 10

Second period

CZE 2, CAN 2

12:16 Nathan MacKinnon (3) - McDavid, Celebrini - PP

Shots on goal: CAN 17, CZE 5

Third period

CZE 3, CAN 2

12:18 Ondrej Palat (1) - Martin Necas, Tomas Hertl

CZE 3, CAN 3

16:33 Nick Suzuki (2) - Devon Toews, Seth Jarvis

Shots on goal: CAN 11, CZE 8

Overtime

1:22 Mitch Marner (1) - Celebrini, Thomas Harley

Total shots: CAN 40, CZE 23

TBL Player Summary

• Brandon Hagel (CAN): 15:51 TOI.

FINLAND 3, SWITZERLAND 2 (OT)

A strong Olympic showing for Switzerland and Lightning defenseman JJ Moser came to an end in overtime due to a comeback effort by Finland.

Switzerland took advantage of a turnover behind the Finnish net, and forward Damien Riat shot the puck into the open net for a 1-0 lead with 5:46 left in the first period. Switzerland’s Nino Niederreiter then doubled the lead just over a minute later with a one-timer from the top of the left circle.

Sebastian Aho got Finland on the board with six minutes remaining in the game, and forward Artturi Lehkonen forced overtime with the tying goal on a tipped Miro Heiskanen shot with 1:12 left in regulation at 6-on-5.

Lehkonen then won the game in overtime on a breakaway chance.

Moser played a team-high 23:21 in the loss and ended his Olympic debut with a goal and three assists in five games.

Scoring Summary

First period

SUI 1, FIN 0

14:14 Damien Riat (2) - Ken Jager

SUI 2, FIN 0

15:26 Nino Niederreiter (1) - Pius Suter

Shots on goal: SUI 5, FIN 4

Second period

None.

Shots on goal: FIN 16, SUI 8

Third period

SUI 2, FIN 1

13:54 Sebastian Aho (3) - Eetu Luostarinen, Miro Heiskanen

SUI 2, FIN 2

18:48 Artturi Lehkonen (2) - Heiskanen, Roope Hintz

Shots on goal: FIN 10, SUI 10

Overtime

3:23 Lehkonen (2) - Anton Lundell, Esa Lindell

Total shots: FIN 31, SUI 23

TBL Player Summary

• JJ Moser (SUI): 23:21 TOI, 1 SOG, 2 PIM.

USA 2, SWEDEN 1 (OT)

Team USA persevered in the final quarterfinal game of the day as fans were treated to overtime for a third straight matchup, one that ended with a game-winning goal from defenseman Quinn Hughes.

After a back and forth start, Team USA broke the scoreless seal in the second period shortly after a won faceoff in the offensive zone.

Forward Jack Hughes fired a shot atop the offensive zone, and Dylan Larkin got his stick on the puck in front of Sweden’s net to tip it through Jacob Markstrom for a 1-0 lead.

Sweden got the tying goal at 6-on-5 with 91 seconds left in regulation, this score coming on a one-time finish by Mika Zibanejad at the left dot following the cross-ice feed by Lucas Raymond.

Quinn Hughes won the game 3:27 into overtime, accepting a pass from his Minnesota Wild teammate Matt Boldy and sending a shot off the right post and into the net for the 2-1 win.

Guentzel saw 17:10 time on ice for Team USA and fired two shots on goal in the win.

Lightning teammate Pontus Holmberg played just over six minutes in the game, and Bolts captain Victor Hedman dressed but did not play for Sweden due to injury. Hedman finished the Olympics with a goal and assist, while Holmberg played in all five games for Sweden.

Scoring Summary

First period

None.

Shots on goal: USA 10, SWE 10

Second period

USA 1, SWE 0

11:03 Dylan Larkin (1) - Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes

Shots on goal: USA 20, SWE 8

Third period

USA 1, SWE 1

18:29 Mika Zibanejad (3) - Lucas Raymond, Gabriel Landeskog

Shots on goal: SWE 10, USA 4

Overtime

3:27 Quinn Hughes (1) - Matt Boldy, Auston Matthews

Total shots: USA 40, SWE 29

TBL Player Summary

• Jake Guentzel (USA): 17:10 TOI, 2 SOG.

• Pontus Holmberg (SWE): 6:11 TOI.

• Victor Hedman (SWE): DNP.

What’s Next?

Only four teams remain, and three Bolts have a chance to earn a medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in forwards Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel as well as defenseman Erik Cernak.

Canada and Hagel will face Finland in a semifinal matchup at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, followed by the second semifinal game when Guentzel and Team USA take on Cernak and Slovakia at 3 p.m.

The winner of those games will meet in the gold medal game on Sunday, while the teams on the losing end of Friday’s games will play for a bronze medal on Saturday.