USA plays ‘really complete game’ vs Germany to finish atop group

MILAN – The Americans will get a deserved day off, a chance to rest and reset ahead of going into the elimination round.

The 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament has entered the interesting stage, where it’s win or go home. USA next plays Wednesday, Feb 18, against the winner of Tuesday’s qualification game between Sweden and Latvia.

‘As this tournament starts to move forward, the stakes get higher, the competition gets stiffer, and I think our guys are excited for that challenge,’ USA coach Mike Sullivan after his team improved to 3-0 in round-robin play on the strength of taking down Germany, 5-1, Sunday at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

‘I thought we got better as it went along,’ Matthew Tkachuk said. ‘I thought today was a really complete game, top to bottom. Really happy with the way everybody played. I thought we controlled most of it and the shifts we didn’t control, because they have some really talented players over there, we stayed tight. We stayed compact. 

‘We lived to fight another day. All in all, very, very pleased with how we’re going into the quarterfinals.’

Tkachuk had the chirp of the tournament so far when he yelled at Germany captain – whose Edmonton Oilers Tkachuk’s Florida Panthers has defeated in the last two Stanley Cup Finals – that he was, ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride.’

Tkachuk and his brother, Brady, have been impact players every game.

‘They’re so effective in the game,’ Zach Werenski said. ‘Even when they’re not scoring or getting on the score sheet, they’re affecting the game in different ways, and they’re tilting the ice in our favor. They’re always talking, they’re always positive, they’re always getting guys going.’

Werenski was first to score Sunday, set up by Auston Matthews, the team captain, who also had two goals.

‘The confidence just continues to grow within our group,’ Matthews said. ‘The chemistry, just being comfortable with one another, playing with new guys that maybe you’re not as used to playing with – each game I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction of where we want to grow our game going into the quarterfinals and it’s good to see.’

While USA faced three underdogs in the preliminary round, there were still good tests along the way. The Americans didn’t play down to the level of their opponents. Being sharp matters even when a loss isn’t the end of the tournament – and can help carry over the momentum as the games shift to elimination.

‘I just think the difference is, it’s a Game 7 scenario,’ Sullivan said. ‘The winner moves on. I think these guys, they understand it. They’ve played in a number of different circumstances that are very much like this. The most important thing from our standpoint, is we control what we can. We try to build our game. We put our best game in the ice, and we’ll see where that takes us. But we really like our group. We think we’re built the right way. We think we have a lot of talent, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.’