Hlavaj makes statement with spectacular performance for Slovakia at Olympics

MILAN -- The Minnesota Wild actually have three top goalies at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

While Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt have gotten most of the attention, with each making Team Sweden, Samuel Hlavaj, playing for Minnesota's American Hockey League affiliate in Iowa, went under the radar.

Until Wednesday.

The 24-year-old turned in a spectacular performance for Team Slovakia in a 4-1 win against Team Finland in the opener for each team in Group B at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Hlavaj made 39 saves, including 18 in the first period, some of the high-danger and flashy variety.

"I like it when you get so many shots at the start," Hlavaj said. "It gets you going, and right away when you get that many shots in the first period and you don't get scored on, you know it's going to be a good night."

The 39 saves were the most by a Slovakia goalie in an Olympics featuring NHL players, topping the previous mark set by Jan Laco (37 saves in a 1-0 shootout loss to Russia on Feb. 16, 2014).

Hlavaj was tested early and rose the occasion, stopping his first 22 shots before allowing his only goal to a wide-open Eeli Tolvanen at 4:15 of the second period.

He made a point-blank save on Rasmus Ristolainen with 12:13 left in the second and then thrilled the crowd with a flashy glove save on a hard slap shot from Niko Mikkola about four minutes later.

"Amazing," Slovakia forward Oliver Okuliar said. "I said before he should be an NHL goalie. That's how I see him. Hopefully he will be our best player every game. And like I said, that's not AHL goalie, but NHL goalie."

It hasn't been an easy road for Hlavaj. He was passed over in the 2019 NHL Draft despite being No. 5 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American goalies.

In fact, he never got drafted by an NHL team, so he played in Slovakia, and for his country at the IIHF World Junior Championship three times (2019-21) and the IIHF World Championship three times (2023-25), waiting for his chance.

Hlavaj finally got noticed by an NHL team, signing an entry-level contract with the Wild on April 5, 2024. He went 14-14-4 with a 2.85 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in the AHL last season. He showed he was ready for the world stage last spring, when he had a 1.99 GAA and .912 save percentage in five games at the 2025 World Championship.

His numbers are not as strong this season, going 5-9-4 with a 3.33 GAA and .884 save percentage. Still, he was named to Team Slovakia on Jan. 8.

"I know I can play good hockey and it's really tough if you are not drafted and someone needs to give you that opportunity," Hlavaj said. "It's tough to get to the NHL."

He looked like an NHL goalie Wednesday, shutting down a team that features elite scorers like Mikko Rantanen of the Dallas Stars and Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes.

"He just played well," Rantanen said. "He had a really good game. He was there when they needed him. He made some big saves."

But it wasn't easy.

"I think this was the toughest and the best game of my life so far," Hlavaj said. "It was awesome. When you have Finnish teams strong like this and you can play against them, and then you can play against NHL players, it means a lot for me as well."

Asked why he always seems to play well when representing Slovakia, Hlavaj said, "I love my country, I love playing for this team and I'm enjoying every moment."

Slovakia, which earned its first win at the Olympics with NHL players since a 4-3 quarterfinal victory against Team Sweden at the 2010 Vancouver Games, will look to do it again when it plays Team Italy on Friday (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, ICI Télé, CBC Gem, SN).

"I don't know if he can do that every night, but if he's going to do it like that, we have a chance to win a game every day," defenseman Simon Nemec said. "I think he's had a pretty good season. We know him, he's great, he showed that on a couple of world championships, we knew that he could do that."

It was big boost for Team Slovakia and the Wild.

"They (the Wild) probably do a good job with goalies," Hlavaj joked.