5 things learned from Day 2 of Olympics

MILAN -- The men’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 continued Thursday with four games.

In the first game, Team Switzerland shut out Team France, 4-0. In the second game, Team Canada blanked Team Czechia, 5-0. In the evening, the Team USA dropped Team Latvia, 5-1, and Team Germany topped Team Denmark, 3-1.

NHL.com is on site in Milan and will provide insights and observations each day.

Here are 5 things learned from Day 2 of the Olympics:

Brothers in arms

The Tkachuks and Hughes had quite the Olympic debut for the United States. Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators opened the scoring for the U.S. with a wrist shot at 5:29 of the first period. The assist went to his brother, Matthew Tkachuk, of the Florida Panthers. Then the Hughes brothers, Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils and Quinn Hughes of the Minnesota Wild, got cooking. First Jack assisted on Brock Nelson’s goal that gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead, then Quinn assisted on Tage Thompson’s goal to make it a 3-1 game. Jack Hughes and Matthew Tkachuk teamed up to assist on Nelson’s second goal that extended it to 4-1, and then Quinn had an assist on Auston Matthews’ goal that made it 5-1.

While Jack Hughes and the two Tkachuks played for the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off, Quinn did not due to injury. Now all four of them are here and look ready to give the U.S. plenty of offense.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Latvia-USA

Reunited and it feels so good

It was obvious the NHL players on Germany were happy to be reunited with some of their teammates from their minor hockey days. Leon Draisaitl grew up with Frederik Tiffels in Cologne, Germany, and the two were ecstatic after combining for the first German goal just 23 seconds into the game against Denmark. Germany has a big, physical team but was susceptible to Denmark’s speed for stretches in the second period. Goalie Philipp Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken had a great game for Germany, making 37 saves. Going forward, Germany is going to need to defend better and continue to get big performances from its star players if it hopes to advance to the medal round. -- Derek Van Diest, staff writer

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Denmark-Germany

Timo time

It took New Jersey Devils forward Timo Meier a bit to get going, but once he did, there was no stopping him. Meier scored two goals in a span of 6:05 in the third period for Switzerland. His first goal was a tap-in on the doorstep after a gorgeous feed from Roman Josi, who skated behind the net and put the pass right on his stick. The second goal was one France goalie Antoine Keller would like to have back. Meier fired a shot from a sharp angle, and it somehow went through Keller’s pads and in. Meier will take them as the Swiss look to stay sharp in a Group A that also features Canada and Czechia.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: France-Switzerland

Holy Macklin

The Olympic stage is not too big for Macklin Celebrini. The 19-year-old forward for the San Jose Sharks scored the first goal for Canada in its win against Czechia. He became the youngest player to appear for Canada in an Olympics involving NHL players and the fourth teenager to score a goal in their first-ever Olympic period involving NHL players. He joined Olli Määttä (Feb. 13, 2014, with Finland), Ilya Kovalchuk (Feb. 15, 2002, with Russia) and Oliver Setzinger (Feb. 9, 2002, with Austria). On a team loaded with elite, veteran talent, if Celebrini can contribute, Canada will be that much more dangerous.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Canada-Czechia

Czech mate

Czechia was able to get its chances against Canada but could not cash in, getting shut out in its opener. Clearly, a team led by David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins is going to need to find a way to put the puck in the net if it’s going to make some noise in Group A and have a long run here. “I think we had some [chances], especially in the beginning. They played well, and we tried to do our best and didn’t use our chances when we get them, so it’s hard to make a good score when you don’t score goals,” forward Roman Cervenka said.