Nylander breaks tie in 2nd period, Sweden holds off Italy in Winter Olympics Group B

MILAN – There were times when Team Sweden looked nervous. Times where it looked like it was on the same level as a team with no NHL players. And times where a stunning upset to Team Italy looked possible.

But being the team full of NHL players it is, the Swedes got the big goal when they needed it and put the clamps down on defense to escape with a 5-2 win at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Wednesday.

William Nylander broke a tie late in the second period to help give Sweden, one of the favorites to win the gold medal, the victory in the Group B preliminary-round opener for each team at Santagiulia Arena.

Mika Zibanejad and Gustav Forsling each had a goal and an assist, and Gabriel Landeskog and Victor Hedman scored for Sweden (1-0-0-0). Rasmus Dahlin tied a Sweden Olympic record with three assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves.

“We had to work really hard, we had to play 100 percent all game,” Sweden defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “And they made it tough for us out there. So it’s nice that we had to play a full 60 minutes today to earn this.”

Luca Frigo and Matthew Bradley scored for Italy (0-0-1-0). Anaheim Ducks prospect Damian Clara made 46 saves before exiting with an apparent injury at 6:08 of the third period.

“Unbelievable,” Italy forward Cristiano DiGiacinto said of Clara. “For him to come in and stand on his head like that, that’s what kept us in the game. When you have a goalie performance like that, it’s hard not to want to fight for him.”

Davide Fadani made nine saves in relief, allowing one goal.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Sweden-Italy

Frigo opened the scoring at 4:14 of the first period, the home crowd going crazy sensing perhaps a miraculous upset.

Afterall, the 25 players on the Sweden roster have played a combined 16,880 NHL games. The Italy roster? Zero.

“Coming out with the first goal that kind of showed them, ‘Hey, we’re not just here to kind of turn over and fold, we’re here to play,'” DiGiacinto said. “After a couple of scrums I was like, ‘This is the Olympics, it’s one game. No matter what your resume is, no matter where you are, we’re here to work and here to represent our country.'

“It’s hockey. You see it all the time, the last-place team beats the first-place team, and it’s one game, so hopefully we can build off that into the next two games.”

The first goal was a perhaps a sign of butterflies on the Sweden side.

Gustavsson was unable to handle a dump in, and instead of steering the puck into the corner, he left it in front of his crease where Frigo pounced on it and scored.

“It bounced a little and it hit my stick kind of funny and popped out,” Gustavsson said. “And he got to the puck first and he got me under my arm.”

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

The lead lasted for just over five minutes. With one second left on a slashing penalty to Italy’s Dustin Gazley, Landeskog one-timed a centering pass from Zibanejad for a power-play goal to make it 1-1 at 9:06.

It was Landeskog’s first game since he sustained an upper-body injury playing for the Colorado Avalanche against the Florida Panthers on Jan. 4.

“It’s exciting to score,” the Sweden captain said, “but I thought it was just exciting to be out there, excited to get back into game action and a little bit of rust.”

Sweden went up 2-1 at 17:53 of the first when Forsling broke in from the blue line to one-time a rebound of a Jesper Bratt shot from the left face-off circle to the short side on Clara, who made 25 saves in the first period.

But Italy battled back, tying the game 2-2 just 37 seconds into the second period. Gazley raced past Sweden’s defensemen at center ice, gathered a loose puck in the offensive zone, skated behind the net and fed a pass across the slot to Bradley, who one-timed it past Gustavsson. It was Italy’s second goal on just four shots.

For the game, Sweden outshot Italy, 60-22.

“There’s not a lot of volume against you when you control the game, so it’s hard to get that good feeling,” Gustavsson said. “You’re just waiting most of the time and they are just coming attacking you.”

Nylander gave Sweden the 3-2 lead at 16:46 of the second period by picking up a loose puck on the side of the net and lifting it past Clara into an open net. It was the first Olympic goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs forward, whose status for the game was unclear after missing practice on Tuesday.

“He was great, no doubt about it he was great,” Landeskog said about Nylander. “He always amazes me by the way he’s able to escape pressure and hold onto pucks and creating scoring chances on his own. It’s impressive, but that’s what elite players do.”

Clara kept it a one-goal game when he robbed Elias Pettersson on a breakaway with a left skate save at 4:28 of third period. He left the game shortly after and was replaced by Fadani.

Zibanejad made it 4-2 Sweden at 15:42, using Pettersson as a screen and beating Fadani with a long-distance wrist shot from near the blue line.

Hedman scored into an empty net at 17:11 for the 5-2 final.

Next up for Sweden is a game with rival Finland on Friday at Santagiulia Arena (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Gem, TSN, RDS). Finland lost its opener 4-1 to Slovakia earlier Wednesday.

“There are some things to clean up, but that’s to be expected,” Landeskog said. “I thought it was a hard-fought game. They were the host nation and I guess you can call it a home opener. We knew they were going to work hard and play us hard as competitors. It was a fun game.”

NOTES: Sweden’s 60 shots on goal were the most ever by a team in an Olympic Winter Games with NHL players. … Dahlin’s three assists tied Daniel Alfredsson (three assists on Feb. 22, 2006) for the most by a Swedish player in an Olympic game with NHL players. … With his one goal, Nylander matched his father, Michael Nylander, who had one goal through two Olympic appearances (1998, 2002). … Frigo became the first Italian player to score in the Olympics since Tony Iob did on Feb. 21, 2006 against Switzerland.