Team USA lives to fight another day at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
The Americans are headed to the semifinals after their 2-1 overtime win over Team Sweden in the quarterfinals. Minnesota defenseman Quinn Hughes got the overtime winner over New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom to keep the team’s quest for a gold medal alive.
On Friday, they’ll face off against Team Slovakia for a spot in the gold medal game.
Team USA is in pursuit of its first gold medal win in men’s ice hockey since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ win at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
Here are the odds for their matchup against Slovakia as of Feb. 18.
USA vs Slovakia Odds
Team USA is a -2.5 favorite over Slovakia in their semifinal matchup. They’re also favored with a -750 moneyline.
The over/under for the game is set at 6.
USA vs Slovakia Prediction
After an easy path to the medal round, Team USA earned the label of battle-tested in their quarterfinals win against Team Sweden.
The Americans led for a majority of the game following a goal from Detroit forward Dylan Larkin in the second. In the third period, Sweden tied the game 1-1 with a goal from New York’s Mika Zibanejad. They eventually found a way to win with Hughes’ goal in the overtime period.
The MVP of the game was Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who delivered after being given a tough task with Team USA’s quiet offense. He stopped 28 out of Sweden’s 29 shots.
Now, the Americans will face the Slovaks, who, despite an offensive avalanche in their 6-2 win over Germany in their quarterfinal game, are an overmatched team.
Slovakia had a 2-1 record in the preliminary round, with their one loss coming from a 5-3 victory by the Swedes in the last game before the medal round.
The Slovaks were fueled by two goals from Pavol Regenda in their 6-2 win over the Germans.
Slovakia has one of the thinnest rosters in terms of NHL talent at this stage of the men’s tournament. The biggest name on the team is Montreal forward Juraj Slafkovsky, but they also have a pair of veteran pro defenseman in Tampa’s Erik Cernak and Washington’s Martin Fehervary.
Slafkovsky has three goals in the tournament. They’ll need him to show up in the semifinals if they want to hang with Team USA’s defenseman.
It would be a major upset for the Americans not to advance to the gold medal game with this draw. I don’t expect the Slovaks to carry over the offensive fireworks from their game against Team Germany. Slovakia hasn’t faced a defense or a goalie as elite as the ones the Americans have.
I would also expect this game to go Over as it stands right now.
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