It’s Day 4 of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament. Group C played its second games, while Group B wrapped up round-robin action — and both match-ups carried major implications for how the standings would shake out. Here’s how the day unfolded.

🇩🇪 Germany vs. 🇱🇻 Latvia

Group C action kicked off with Germany looking to remain perfect through two games against a Latvian side that hung with the United States for much of its opener.

Germany got off to a strong start when Lukas Reichel scored just two minutes in. Latvia responded later in the period with a power-play goal from Dans Locmelis off a nice pass from Zemgus Girgensons.

Germany answered quickly. Just over a minute later, a Latvian defender inadvertently sent the puck into the slot, where Frederik Tiffels found Lukas Kalble alone in front for the go-ahead goal.

Latvia pulled even in the second after Germany handed them a two-man advantage. Locmelis scored his second of the game, beating Philipp Grubauer over the shoulder.

Midway through the third, Latvia struck twice in quick succession to take the lead as time began to wind down. On the fourth goal, draft-eligible defenceman Albert Smits — who we saw at the world juniors — picked up an assist for his first point of the tournament.

With the extra attacker on late, Tim Stützle brought Germany within one, but Latvia held on for a huge 4-3 victory.

🇸🇪 Sweden vs. 🇸🇰 Slovakia

Over in Group B, Slovakia aimed to stay perfect while Sweden looked to get its tournament back on track.

Both teams made lineup changes. Former Flames Elias Lindholm and Rasmus Andersson were healthy scratches for Sweden, while another former Flame, goaltender Jacob Markstrom, got the start. On the Slovak side, current Flame Martin Pospisil was also scratched.

Sweden opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal. Joel Eriksson Ek jammed home a rebound after Adrian Kempe failed to convert on a partial breakaway.

Slovakia responded quickly when Simon Nemec found Juraj Slafkovsky at the hash marks for his third goal of the tournament.

Kempe made up for his earlier miss by scoring on a second-period power play to restore Sweden’s lead. Slovakia again answered shortly after a power play expired, as Martin Gernat tied the game.

Before the period ended, Elias Pettersson converted on a breakaway to give Sweden a 3-2 lead heading into the third.

Pettersson added his second of the game early in the third on a pass from Lucas Raymond, who then scored himself minutes later to extend the lead to three.

With the game out of reach, the focus shifted to goal differential. Slovakia scored with just seconds remaining — a potentially crucial marker in the standings. Sweden won 5-3, but that late Slovak goal could prove significant.

🇫🇮 Finland vs. 🇮🇹 Italy

This looked more like the Finnish team many expected — and, unfortunately for the hosts, the Italian side many anticipated as well. It was a one-sided affair.

Finland scored three times in the first period, with Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund and Kaapo Kakko all finding the net. Finland outshot Italy 13-2 in the opening frame as goaltender Damian Clara, who starred in the opener, couldn’t hold off the early surge.

With goal differential looming large, Finland kept pressing. Joel Kiviranta scored in the second, while Kakko and Granlund added their second goals of the game as Finland poured on three more.

The onslaught continued in the third. For the third straight game, Italy made a goaltending change as Davide Fadani entered to face the toughest period yet. Finland scored five more times to secure an 11-0 victory.

That result created a three-way tie atop Group B between Finland, Sweden and Slovakia.

This is where everything within the group got messy. With Finland and Sweden winning in regulation, it created a three-way tie for first in group B. Slovakia automatically advances to the quarterfinals becuase they held the tie-breaker over Sweden.

This is because when three or more teams are tied in points, the three teams become a subgroup. The first tiebreaker is based off of how many points each team had against each other. Since each team earned three points, the next tiebreaker becomes goal differential in head-to-head matchups.

Finlands goal differential against each team was even, Sweden was minus one, and because of that late Slovakian goal in a game that was already lost, Slovakia’s goal differential was plus one. Therefore, Slovakia wins the group, Finland finishes second and Sweden finishes third….make sense?

🇺🇸 United States vs. 🇩🇰 Denmark

This one got off to a quick — and odd — start. Nick Olesen opened the scoring for Denmark less than two minutes in after a failed clearance by Zach Werenski led to a rebound that deflected off his skate and into the net past Jeremy Swayman.

The United States responded two minutes later. Matt Boldy rushed the zone, collected his own rebound and wrapped it around to tie the game.

Denmark retook the lead midway through the period in bizarre fashion. From centre ice, Nick Jensen dumped the puck toward the net, and it beat Swayman cleanly over the blocker — possibly deflecting off a shin pad before crossing the blue line, but still a shot that should have been saved easily. Denmark led 2-1 after one.

The Americans settled in during the second and scored three times. Brady Tkachuk netted his second of the tournament, Jack Eichel added another 57 seconds later, and former Flame Noah Hanifin beat Mads Sogaard five-hole to make it 4-2.

Denmark answered with three seconds left in the period when Phillip Bruggisser scored from the point to make it 4-3. This was another goal that Swayman should have easily saved.

Early in the third, Jake Guentzel one-timed a shot past Sogaard to restore a two-goal cushion.

With nine minutes remaining, Sogaard made a big save on Brady Tkachuk but appeared to be injured and left the game. Frederik Dichow came on in relief but looked shaky. Jack Hughes capitalized by banking a puck off the out-of-position netminder to make it 6-3.

That would be the final as the United States improved to 2-0.

Canada and the United States now appear poised to battle for the top overall spot after the round robin. Assuming both win tomorrow, goal differential could decide it. The U.S. currently sits at plus-7, while Canada is plus-9.

Group B — Next games

Slovakia will play in the quarterfinals as a group winner.
Finland could go to the quarterfinals as the top second-place team, depending on the results of Sunday’s games.
Italy and Sweden are going to the qualifying games.

Group C — Next games (Feb. 15)

🇩🇰 Denmark vs. 🇱🇻 Latvia
🇺🇸 United States vs. 🇩🇪 Germany

PRESENTED BY DAILY FACEOFF’S OLYMPIC COVERAGE

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