MILAN — William Nylander will be in the lineup and Filip Gustavsson will start in goal for Team Sweden against Team Italy in their opener of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Wednesday (3:10 p.m. ET; Peacock, USA, CBC Gem, SN, TSN, CBC).
Nylander, a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs, participated in the morning skate after he missed practice Tuesday.
Sweden coach Sam Hallam said after the morning skate he would need to check with its medical team regarding Nylander’s availability.
“Obviously he’s a huge part of our team,” forward Lucas Raymond said. “He’s kind of that X-factor that every team wants. Hopefully he’s feeling good and we’ll be ready to go tonight.”
As for the starting goalie, Hallam had kept his decision to himself since the Swedes arrived here Sunday.
“We announce that when we put out the roster tonight,” Hallam said after the morning skate.
The decision to go with Gustavsson was hardly a shock.
Gustavsson is 20-9-6 with a 2.64 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 36 games (35 starts) for the Minnesota Wild this season. The 27-year-old from Skelleftea started the first two games of the 4 Nations Face-Off last season against Canada and Finland, each an overtime loss, but left after giving up two goals on four shots in the first period against Finland because of an illness.
Hallam said this morning if everything goes to plan, Gustavsson likely would start against Finland on Friday, with either Jacob Markstrom or Jesper Wallstedt, Gustavsson’s teammate on the Wild, starting against Slovakia on Saturday.
Markstrom will serve as the backup Wednesday.
