MILAN — Sweden is looming for the United States, which appears likely to face one of the tournament’s best teams in a do-or-die elimination game far earlier than anyone expected.
The good news from Sunday, though — the best possible news, really — is that Team USA just played its best game of these Olympic Games, handling Germany 5-1 with a sense of control that was never there against Latvia or Denmark.
“I think today was our best 60 minutes for sure,” said Zach Werenski, who scored and assisted on a goal over 19:30 of ice time. “We’ve had good moments throughout this tournament, good periods. But today was our most consistent, our stingiest defensively. Thought we created a lot of offense.”
As a result, the Americans finished atop Group C and entered the knockout stage of the tournament with a bye to the quarterfinals and the second seed.
Jack Eichel #9 of Team United States celebrates a goal scored by Brock Faber #14 (not pictured) in the second period during the Men’s Preliminary Group C match between the United States and Germany. Getty Images
Sweden needs to get by Latvia in the play-in round due to its own struggles in the group stage, and the U.S. will face the winner of that game on Wednesday.
The bracket, a factor the Americans can’t control, is certainly not ideal.
The completeness and connectedness of their game against a solid Germany team, though, was a massive step in the right direction.
By an order of magnitude, this was Auston Matthews’ best-ever night in a Team USA sweater in best-on-best competition.
He, Matt Boldy and Jake Guentzel were a force all game, up ice nearly every shift.
Matthews fed Werenski on to open the scoring with nine seconds left in the first, then scored one of his own 3:25 into the second, tucking one in from Matthew Tkachuk on the power play.
The captain added a second for good measure, tipping Jake Sanderson’s shot in for the Americans’ fifth goal of the evening.
There is no player who can swing this tournament for the Yanks more than Matthews.
He came under major scrutiny for his 4 Nations Face-Off performance, and his continuance in the captaincy has been a matter of debate among fans.
He skated into Jack Hughes on the power play early in this one, an embarrassing moment, and you could hear the chatter starting up again.
Connor Hellebuyck (37) defends the net during Team USA’s win over Germany on Feb. 15. Imagn Images
He quieted it almost immediately.
“He was all over the puck,” Jack Eichel said. “… It was awesome to see him tonight. He stepped up huge for us. He checked when he needed to, he made a lot of plays, created a lot of offense. Won big draws. It was great to see him have a huge night.”
This was a step in the right direction, too, for the defense corps that never looked settled through two games.
Werenski got on the scoreboard with two assists and so did Jake Sanderson.
Brock Faber scored with a soft shot from the right point that German netminder Maximilian Franzreb lost track of 17:35 into the second to make it 3-0.
Brock Faber looks to move the puck during Team USA’s win over Germany on Feb. 15. Getty Images
Jaccob Slavin played the sort of calm and controlled game that’s typical of him.
The penalty kill — against a stacked German top unit featuring Moritz Seider, Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle and JJ Peterka — gave up nothing.
Connor Hellebuyck’s return to the net, where he will presumably remain for the rest of the tournament bar injury, helped too.
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
The netminder calmly turned aside 23 shots, his only blemish coming when the game was well out of hand.
“Is there more than 100 percent?” Hellebuyck jokingly responded when asked how close to his peak he feels.
Clayton Keller’s Olympic debut, coming in for Kyle Connor on the third line, was forgettable, but Dylan Larkin and Tage Thompson connected on Thompson’s one-time blast that made it 4-0, a notable development for a line that’s been quiet all tournament.
The first and fourth lines, constants throughout the preliminaries, continued apace.
United States’ Auston Matthews, right, celebrates after scoring his side’s fifth goal during a preliminary round game of men’s ice hockey between the United States and Germany at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, AP
It wasn’t perfect; indeed, this team still has a ways to go to match up with a Canada squad that looks more invincible every game.
They don’t play as fast or as connected, and it hasn’t been as easy for them as it’s been for the Canadians.
Nevertheless, this was as close as Team USA has looked to the squad that went blow-for-blow with Canada last season, right down to Brady Tkachuk trucking over Parker Tuomie along the half wall.
It was their best 60 minutes.
The next 60 will need to be even better.
Sweden or not, here comes the US of A.
