Boston Bruins
Quinn Hughes’ OT winner pushed Group USA previous Sweden on Wednesday.
Group USA lives to combat one other day.
On an eventful afternoon/night of hockey the place three of the 4 quarterfinal video games of the 2026 Winter Olympics males’s hockey event went into time beyond regulation, Quinn Hughes proved to be the hero for the Individuals.
Hughes lit the lamp 3:27 into 3-on-3 time beyond regulation Wednesday, serving to Group USA outlast Sweden, 2-1.
Dylan Larkin additionally scored for the Individuals, who instantly discovered themselves on the ropes after Mika Zibanejad scored the equalizer for Sweden with simply 1:31 left in regulation.
Group USA now advances to the semifinal spherical of the Olympic event, the place they may tackle Slovakia. Puck drop is ready for 3:10 p.m. EST on Friday.
Group Canada — who beat Czechia in time beyond regulation, 4-3, earlier on Wednesday — will battle Finland within the different semifinal sport on Friday at 10:40 a.m.
Listed below are three takeaways from Wednesday’s win for Group USA:
Hughes saves Group USA from embarrassing outcome
Group Canada nonetheless stands because the gold-medal favourite getting into the ultimate two rounds of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Video games.
And, the U.S. was dealt a troublesome hand in that their quarterfinal matchup was towards a seven-seeded Sweden crew that, whereas underachieving throughout group-stage play, was nonetheless plagued by elite NHL expertise.
Nonetheless, a loss for Group USA on Wednesday would have been catastrophic for an U.S. program that has seemingly been constructing towards a gold-medal run for the primary time in many years.
Hughes’ snipe in time beyond regulation spared the Individuals from a painful flight again from Italy — and years of soul-searching over whether or not or not this crew wasted what might be their greatest shot at lastly supplanting Canada on the worldwide stage.
As quickly as Hughes’ sharp wrister sailed previous Sweden goalie Jacob Markström, each Group USA coach Mike Sullivan and common supervisor Invoice Guerin probably took a deep exhale.
Sullivan’s choice to try to pack issues in defensively to outlast Sweden’s late push backfired as soon as Zibanejad lastly beat Connor Hellebuyck after the Swedes pulled Markström in favor of an additional skater.
Guerin’s roster development additionally may have been taken to activity had his crew misplaced to Sweden in a low-scoring affair.
Whereas each groups snuffed out a number of Grade-A probabilities in entrance of their goalies by the use of blocks, deflections, and a dedicated defensive sport, the Individuals’ selections to go away confirmed scorers like Cole Caufield (32 objectives in 57 video games) and Jason Robertson (32 objectives in 57 video games) off the Olympic roster loomed massive on an evening the place the Individuals couldn’t get a lot going within the offensive zone.
Fortunately for Guerin and Co., these questions will likely be quelled for at the very least one other few days attributable to Hughes, who has been a game-changing presence on the blue line this event.
Hughes’ influence has been evident after lacking the 4 Nations Face-Off final February attributable to damage, with the previous Norris Trophy winner each scoring the game-winner and aiding on Larkin’s tally within the second interval of play on Wednesday.
Hughes logged a team-leading 27:31 of ice time for Group USA towards the Swedes, together with 2:03 of the three:27 of time beyond regulation.
“He’s unimaginable,” Charlie McAvoy told The Boston Globe of Hughes’ impact. “Together with his skating, his stickhandling, he’s capable of create one thing out of nothing there and win us that hockey sport sort of all by himself.”
As dynamic as Canada’s Cale Makar may be on the blue line, Hughes is correct there subsequent to him in terms of figuring out the premier playmaking D-men within the hockey world.
Via 5 video games this event, Hughes has scored a objective and added 5 assists. Solely two defensemen have posted extra factors at a single Olympics with NHL gamers: Sweden’s Erik Karlsson (eight factors in 2014) and USA’s Brian Rafalski (eight factors in 2010).
McAvoy doles out loads of ache
For the primary time since Nov. 15, Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy took to the ice with out a face protect — shedding the bubble that protected his surgically repaired jaw that was shattered months in the past.
The Boston blueliner wasn’t tepid in his first sport with out that protecting gear, doling out crushing hits towards Sweden’s Joel Eriksson Ek, Gabriel Landeskog, Adrian Kempe, and Lucas Raymond on Wednesday.
McAvoy, who has primarily skated alongside Hughes on Group USA’s prime D pairing, completed third on the Individuals in ice time (19:22), trailing solely Hughes and North Chelmsford native Jack Eichel (21:24).
An alternate captain for the U.S., McAvoy has carved out a beneficial function on the worldwide stage because the American’s go-to shutdown choice and bruising D-man.
Though McAvoy has taken one other step ahead this season with Boston as a potent playmaker (39 factors in 45 video games), he’s showcased his worth as a defensive equalizer with Group USA when paired by a dynamic puck-mover.
Be it skating with Hughes through the ‘26 Olympics or lighting up skaters as a menacing rover whereas on a pairing with Zach Werenski through the 4 Nations Face-Off, McAvoy has raised his inventory as one of many few premier defensemen within the league whose physicality and D-zone acumen are extra than simply complementary items of his offensive skillset.
4 Bruins stay in gold-medal combine
Group USA’s triumph got here on the detriment of a pair of Bruins skaters on Sweden, as each Elias Lindholm and Hampus Lindholm noticed their Olympic expertise come to a detailed Wednesday.
Hampus Lindholm — a late addition to Sweden’s roster attributable to an damage to Jonas Brodin — hardly ever performed in his first few video games of the event. That modified on Wednesday, as Lightning captain Victor Hedman didn’t log a single shift towards the U.S. after tweaking one thing throughout warmups.
With Hedman out of fee, Lindholm logged 15:48 of ice time on in his place. He was knocked for a tripping penalty that the Individuals weren’t capable of capitalize on.
Elias Lindholm completed with 9:36 of ice time on Wednesday, with Boston’s top-six pivot ending with zero factors in 4 video games for Sweden.
Bruins star winger David Pastrnak will even depart Italy with none Olympic {hardware}, as Czechia couldn’t seal the deal and bounce Canada earlier on Wednesday.
Pastrnak — who was Czechia’s flag-bearer for the ‘26 Olympics opening ceremony — scored a power-play objective on Wednesday. He completed event motion with two objectives and 5 whole factors in 5 video games.
Together with McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman with Group USA, two different Bruins stay within the working for a objective medal with Group Finland.
Defenseman Henri Jokiharju performed 6:49 and landed one shot on objective in Finland’s 3-2 comeback win over Switzerland on Wednesday. Joonas Korpisalo has slotted behind Finland’s Juuse Saros in internet throughout Olympic play.
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