Live blog: United States vs. Slovakia Olympics semifinal

The United States and Slovakia are facing off in the second semifinal of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Friday.

The winner will play Canada for the gold medal on Sunday.

NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price is Milan to provide all the sights, sounds and action.

5:23 p.m. ET

We are under 10 minutes to go now and the U.S-Canada goal medal game is looking like lock city at this point.

It's now 6-1 with 9:08 left after Brady Tkachuk this time scores on a breakaway.

The U.S. is just in complete control here, and could be up 7-1 or 8-1 if not for the Slovak goalie.

As Dan Rosen pointed out, and will write about postgame, the U.S. seems to be getting better with each game.

They looked a little shaky during the preliminary round and we all know how tight the Sweden game was, but they look like a well-oiled machine tonight.

Now it's air guitar time and "Sweet Child O'Mine" is playing.

If you ever see Shawn Roarke on the street ask him about Guns N' Roses.

5:17 p.m. ET

The U.S. had a chance to go up 6-1, but Brady Tkachuk was just stopped on a breakaway from his own blue line.

Had this been a closer game, that might've been a huge save.

Back to Slafkovsky for a second: The MVP of the 2022 Beijing Olympics has eight points (four goals, four assists) here.

And now the fans are doing the wave. Yes, the wave. They apparently haven't gotten the memo that it's not cool to do the wave.

5:14 p.m. ET

The U.S. appears to be in cruise control now and that might not be a good thing.

Slovakia just scored with 15:05 left in the game. And it was a goal by who else? Juraj Slavkovsky, who has been a scoring machine here. That was his fourth goal.

One interesting thing to watch will be how the teams take what happened today into Sunday.

Canada was pushed for a second straight game and has to feel somewhat fortunate to be in the gold medal game, but you could also argue that it is battle tested.

The U.S. barely got by Sweden on Wednesday, but the Americans have not been tested much today. This game has felt over since the U.S. scored twice in the first period.

But don't tell the Slovak fans that. They are making some noise after the Slafkovsky goal.

The DJ is trying to keep all engaged, playing "Panama" by Van Halen. That's the second-best song of the '80s.

5:08 p.m. ET

We are offically less than 20 minutes from having a gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada. Wow wee.

Of course, we will have plenty of coverage of this U.S.-Slovakia game on NHL.com this evening and even more coverage of U.S.-Canada on Saturday.

There are storylines aplenty for that game.

Will Canada win the rematch from the 4 Nations Face-Off?

Will Sidney Crosby play?

Can the U.S. finally get over the hump against Canada?

Why am I asking you? (That's a little Spongebob reference.)

There is some news here in the third period as Tage Thompson was just shown going to the locker room.

Stay tuned for news on that.

5:02 p.m. ET

The third period is about to begin.

The DJ just played the best pop song of the 1980s. No, not "One Night in Bangkok," it was "Take Me Home Tonight" by Edward Mahoney and Ronald Spector.

It appears the U.S. and Canada will be looking to take the gold medal home on Sunday.

Canada snuck by Finland in the first quarterfinal this afternoon, and the U.S. leads Slovakia 5-0 after two periods.

In case you haven't heard by now, if you live in North America, you are going to have to either A) go to bed early on Saturday, or B) set your alarm for Sunday morning.

Puck drop here in Italy will be 2:10 p.m. which means that's an 8:10 a.m. start on the East Coast and 5:10 for all of you on the left coast (maybe you should just stay up all night).

4:44 p.m. ET

Tell me if you heard this before: Jack Hughes has scored. The U.S. leads 5-0 and its fans are fired up.

They just showed Keith Tkachuk on the big board and then Jason Kelce again.

I have not see Snoop yet, but I'm sure he's here.

Tom Brady was here for the women's game last night, as was Seth Meyers.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any better for Canada, there's this:

4:33 p.m. ET

This one counts. Actually, two goals count.

The U.S. goes up 3-0 with 7:46 left in the second on a goal by Jack Hughes.

And now it's 4-0 with 7:27 left after Jack Eichel scores. The blowout is on.

"Free Bird" is playing once again in here and the idea of a U.S-Canada gold medal game is getting closer to becoming a reality.

The "USA, USA, USA" chants are getting louder and louder.

And Slovakia has made a goalie change with Stanislav Skorvanek now in net.

It turns out George is not just an ace copy editor, he knows his ABBA as well.

He said he looked up the song title from earlier and came up with this tidbit from allmusic.com.

"'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)' is a song that pairs a melodramatic and very adult lyric tailored to appeal to discotheque regulars with an infectiously dance-pop melody. The lyrics cover familiar disco territory with their first-person tale of a search for love on the dancefloor, but the music that backs them up gives the tale a surprisingly dramatic feel."

4:28 p.m. ET

We are under nine minutes left in the second period and it's still 2-0 U.S.

Though it's still a tight game score-wise, it just feels like the U.S. is in complete control.

The U.S. appeared to go up 3-0 at 11:18 of the second, but the goal was waved off. They didn't show a replay here, but I guess Jake Guentzel kicked the puck in.

I don't know how many people are reading this blog, but I know for sure NHL.com copy editor George Henn is. He just alerted me that my entries for this blog were being topped with Italy time instead of Eastern time. I think the espresso I had this morning is starting to wear off.

Anyway, sorry If I confused anyone.

I'm going to finally get used to being six hours ahead of Eastern time, and then we are going to come home on Monday and I'll be a complete disaster.

Oh, in case anyone was wondering, in the arena right now, it's dance time.

4:18 p.m. ET

I'll say this about the Slovaks: They are not going quietly.

They are still making life tough on the U.S., throwing pucks on goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who has made 10 saves today and has allowed just one goal in the elimination portion of this tournament to this point.

By the way, it's not a party until you hear "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger, so ladies and gentlemen, we have a party. And now we hear "Down" by 311. What is this, the '90s?

The funny thing here is every time a team takes a penalty they play they same sound they play at Yankee Stadium when the Yanks go yard.

The Slovaks are on the power play again -- the Americans are practically beggging them to stay in this game.

4:11 p.m. ET

The second period has started, the U.S. leads 2-0, Jason Kelce is here and all is right with the world.

And the U.S. is back on the power play in the first minute of the second.

But that is short-lived as Auston Matthews takes a hooking penalty just 38 seconds into the power play.

It could be the break Slovakia needs because allowing another U.S. goal right now would pretty much spell doom.

With the teams even at 4-on-4, the DJ plays "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam. This cat is rallying big time.

3:50 p.m. ET

The U.S. goes on the power play in the final minute of the first and doesn't waste any time making it 2-0 on a goal by Tage Thompson.

It was similar to the goal Nathan MacKinnon scored to win the first game for Canada.

And "Free Bird" plays again.

OK, all apologies to the DJ. He just played "Wild Flower" by The Cult, and I'm fired up.

It's on one of my favorite albums of all time, "Electric." That's now two Cult songs today: "Love Removal Machine" on the organ earlier and now "Wild Flower." If he had played "Peace Dog," I might have passed out.

Wait, I might. The organist just played "Brass Bonanza," otherwise known as the Hartford Whalers fight song. I wonder how many Slovaks on hand knew that one.

3:40 p.m. ET

If you are a fan of the Slovaks, you can't be encouraged by what you saw in this first period.

They haven't mounted much of a challege to the U.S. despite having two power plays. They even iced the puck on the second power play.

Some fans are trying to start a "USA, USA" chant, but I have to be honest, this crowd doesn't seem to have the same juice as the Canada-Finland crowd. Not yet, anyway.

And as I call for more music from the organist, he plays "Golden" from "KPop Demon Hunters" (great flick).

Before that, the DJ played some remixed verson of "Tequila." Why mess with greatness?

Again, like the "Saturday Night Live" skit "More Cowbell," I need "more organist."

3:33 p.m. ET

This is a mostly pro-USA crowd here.

They are a bit on edge here as the U.S. just took another penalty and the Slovaks are on the power play.

That's two penalties against the the Americans. They are playing with fire.

We had our first ABBA song of the day: "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)."

The organist, Dieter Ruehle, has not played too much this game after a stellar job before the first game.

I need more.

3:31 p.m. ET

Team Slovakia goes on the power play at the 8:51 mark after Charlie McAvoy takes an interference call, but the U.S. gets the kill.

The spill in the press box has been cleaned up, we all have power and cooler heads are prevailing.

Of course, some of us didn't eat between games, so some hanger is still lingering.

Not suprisingly, the press area is much more crowded tonight than it has been the past two weeks.

Dan Rosen, Shawn Roarke, Nick Cotsonika and I are squeezed in here like sardines.

3:24 p.m. ET

The organist here just played the intro to "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by The Supremes, later covered by Kim "Kids in America" Wilde.

Hmm.

That might be a rallying call for the Slovaks, who seem to be hanging on after falling behind the U.S. 1-0 just 4:19 into the game.

Unlike some previous games, when the U.S. came out slow, the Americans are clicking tonight, and look to be on top of their game.

I'm sure they can almost taste a gold medal game with Canada, but first things first.

3:16 p.m. ET

The U.S. is on the board here just 4:19 into the game.

Dylan Larkin comes in and beats the Slovakia goalie with a wrist shot.

"Free Bird" is blaring, the fans are going crazy.

Certainly not the start the Slovaks wanted.

3:12 p.m. ET

We are finally in place and ready to go after a spillage at the press table.

This came after someone unplugged Shawn Roarke's computer between games.

There might be some argy-bargy up here before long.

The "USA, USA" chants have already started and this crowd is amped.

2:45 p.m. ET

We're back. After a wild game between Canada and Finland, the U.S. and Slovakia look to reach the gold medal game.

The arena was still filling in with about 25 minutes to puck drop.

The DJ is blasting some Foo Fighters and AC/DC to get the crowd pumped up, but does he really have to?

This should be another epic.

The U.S. will be in the white jerseys tonight while Slovakia is in blue.

We are all taking a breath after the first game and I'll be back in a little bit to chronicle this one.