While the top four seeds at the 2026 Olympics advanced to Friday’s semifinals, the United States earned perhaps the most impressive win of the quarterfinals by ousting Sweden 2-1 in overtime, ousting one of the gold medal contenders despite drawing the toughest opponent.
While Canada’s Jordan Binnington and Finland’s Jusse Saros had ups and downs in their quarterfinal victories that both required late rallies and overtime to advance, Connor Hellebucyk continued his strong tournament, allowing just three goals in three games, one each in his three appearances.
Quinn Hughes joined Mitch Marner and Artturi Letkonen as Wednesday’s overtime heroes, blasting a shot past Jacob Markstrom’s glove and into the semifinals 3:27 into the 3-on-3 session.
Goaltending paramount in Olympics medal round
Hellebucyk was a big reason the Americans were even in a spot to win in overtime, stopping 28 of 29 Swedish shots on the evening.
Top 5 goalies in the Olympics by save percentage:
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) February 17, 2026
1. Leonardo Genoni (SUI) .962
2. Connor Hellebuyck (USA) .952
3. Jordan Binnington (CAN) .950
4. Juuse Saros (FIN) .946
5. Philipp Grubauer (GER) .934
Goaltending becomes paramount in single-game elimination tournaments since there is so little margin for error and no time to regroup after a sub-par 60 minutes. And, with just four teams left, the Americans seem to have the best one left in the bracket as the defending Hart and Vezina Trophy winner was able to hold the fort and push the U.S. past the Swedes in a tight, one-goal game.
While the United States, coming off a two-day break, dominated their contest early, Sweden began to push back, but the Winnipeg Jets netminder had the answers for what they could throw at him for over 58 minutes.
The Swedes started out strong in the second, but Hellebucyk stood tall and held them off the board, and Dylan Larkin finally broke the scoreless tie with 8:57 left in the second period with a deflection.
While the U.S. offense had been averaging over five goals a game in the preliminary round, Jacob Markstrom was able to limit the damage in regulation to just the Larkin tally.
As the Americans seemed content to play with the lead and see if it could hold up, they got the benefit of some nice saves, along with a friendly post until Markstrom was pulled with under two minutes left.
With the extra attacker, the Swedes took advantage, and Mika Zibenajad evened the score with 91 seconds left in regulation, forcing the game to overtime.
Team USA overcomes adversity
The Americans seemed to resume the attack once the game was placed in the balance by the late goal, and after a few good chances in overtime, Hughes was able to propel the Americans into the semifinals.
While much of the talk in the quarterfinals was the difficulty of the U.S. playing Sweden, for the semifinals Canada seems to have the tougher draw in Finland, as with the reseeding the Americans will take on the third-seeded Slovaks, the surprise of the tournament.
The U.S. has only lost to Slovakia twice in six times at the Olympics, with one loss in regulation, one in overtime and a tie. The last time the Americans played the Slovaks with NHL players was 2014 in Sochi, where the U.S. recorded a 7-1 win in the preliminary round. The Slovaks won 2-1 over the U.S. in 2006 in the only other time the two teams have met in the Olympics with NHL players.
In this tournament, the Slovaks earned the top spot in their group with a last-minute goal against Sweden, and despite losing 5-3 for their only loss so far in the tournament, that swung the goal-differential to give them a tiebreak against the Swedes and Finns.
Slovakia had little trouble in their quarterfinal with a 5-2 win over Germany, as they are powered by Juraj Slafovsky, who has 3 goals and 4 assists in the tournament, and Dalibor Dvorsky, with 3 goals and 3 assists.
Semifinals set
The United States, who are unbeaten in four games, move on to their first Olympic semifinal with NHL players since 2014 and a 1-0 loss to Canada. The Americans have now reached the semifinals in four of the last five tournaments with NHLers since 2002, winning a pair of bronze medals in that span in 2002 and 2010, and a fourth place finish in 2014.
The U.S. also is a win away from its first medal of any kind since 2010, and two wins from its first goal since 1980. The Americans also have not won an Olympic medal outside North America since 1972.
