Olympic Hockey Day 5 Recap: OT Magic and Ten Goal Mayhem

It was a statement-filled day on Olympic ice, featuring everything from overtime heroics to lopsided dominance. Switzerland battled past Czechia in a dramatic overtime finish, Canada unleashed an offensive onslaught against France, Denmark earned its first win of the tournament, and the United States powered through Germany with a confident, complete performance. As the preliminary round winds down, momentum is building, and the intensity is only rising.

Switzerland vs. Czechia

• After a tough loss to Canada, Switzerland was looking to bounce back and secure this victory for Kevin Fiala, who would have to watch from afar after his surgery for the injury he sustained while getting tangled up with Tom Wilson.
• An underwhelming tournament for Czechia so far; they needed the win to secure second place in their group. Late in the first period, Martin Necas set up Filip Chlapik, who one-timed it past Swiss elder statesman—er, I mean goalie Leonardo Geononi. He's turning 39 this year, by the way.
• The game was far from over, however, as both teams traded chances and possession. Neither one seems able to gain any significant advantage. Late in the second period, the tide began to shift in Switzerland's favor. They were able to score two goals in just over two minutes off the leg work of superstar defenseman Roman Josi.
• The tying goal came from Roman Josi skating into the offensive zone and sending a backhand toward the net that ricocheted off Radko Gudas' skate. The go-ahead goal came after Czechia took a penalty, and Timo Meier was able to sweep a rebound from a Josi one-timer into the back of the net.
• The Swiss lead wouldn't last all that long, as Czechia was putting on the pressure to start the third period. Necas got his second assist of the game after setting up the play that led to yet another rebound goal, this time for Radim Simek. But the tie game wouldn't even last for two minutes, as Pius Suter from Switzerland put his team back on top.
• Czechia would continue pushing to tie the game, and celebrated a goal with just three minutes left to play, but after a quick review, the goal was overturned due to goaltender interference by David Pastrnak.
• With just over two minutes left to play, Czechia pulled Lukas Dostal for the extra attacker. The plan worked as Necas scored off a one-timer, getting his third point of the game.
• The third period wound down, and the buzzer sounded, sending this game to overtime, so far the only game in the tournament needing extra time.
• It didn't take long in overtime for the game to be decided. On a two-on-one, Dean Kukan, who is just a few years removed from his NHL career as a Columbus Blue Jacket, scored an unassisted goal to give Switzerland the win and secure second place in the group.
• Post-game, in a touching move, multiple Swiss players and their coach dedicated this win to Kevin Fiala. However, this win wouldn't come without the drama, as many online pointed out that a portion of the time, Switzerland got away with a man advantage in overtime. Nothing to be done now, as the Olympics continue.

Canada vs. France

• As soon as the groups were announced, everyone knew this was coming. Looking at the two teams, you have Canada, the perennial gold favorite with or without NHL players, but this time with NHL players, and four number one overall picks to boot. And then you have France, which has one NHL player, who, for what it's worth, was recently waived and claimed in the NHL, Alexandre Texier.
• Canada wasted no time in dominating the game, maintaining possession, as their offense mostly flowed and showed little ebb. It would be Tom Wilson who would get on the scoreboard first, scoring his first goal of the Olympics.
• Much to everyone's surprise, France would strike back a mere 13 seconds later as Floran Douay and Justin Addamo would team up to beat Binnington and tie the game at one.
• That brief glimpse of hope for France quickly faded as Canada would close out the first period scoring another two goals, one even strength and the other shorthanded, with Mark Stone showing off his speed.
• Canada's dominance continued as they added another three goals to their lead in the second period. The first was scored by Cale Makar on the man advantage, after being set up by Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby—sheesh, what a power play unit that is. The second goal came from Macklin Celebrini on a penalty shot. Florian Chakiachvili pulled him down on a breakaway, and on the penalty shot he was awarded, came in slowly, stickhandling the puck and lifting it over French netminder Julian Junca. This marked the first time a Canadian scored on a penalty shot in the Olympic Games. The third and final goal of the period for Canada was scored by Sidney Crosby, giving them a commanding 6-1 lead as they headed into the second intermission.

• To start the third period, France replaced Junca with Antonie Keller, a Washington Capitals 2023 seventh-round pick.
• Despite the goalie swap, the Canadians didn't slow down, scoring another four goals in the period. This time, McDavid, Bo Horvat, Brandon Hagel, and Macklin Celebrini all potting a goal to pad their lead.
• The two most surprising things in the period were France's second goal, scored by Sacha Treille, and the fight that broke out.
• Fighting is quite rare in international hockey, but after a high hit on Nathan Mackinnon, Tom Wilson did what Tom Wilson does best and dropped the gloves. He confronted Pierre Crinon in front of the French net and made him answer for his questionable hit. Both players received misconduct penalties, as fighting is technically not allowed in these games, but, as most of us know, the rules have never bothered Tom Wilson.

• Canada easily won 10-2, with some saying they eased up. They will be the top seed in the next round after winning their group and having the biggest goal differential. They will now play the winner of the Czechia/Denmark game.
• France still advances and gets the privilege of lining up against Germany next.

Denmark vs. Latvia

• With both teams already prepared to play on Tuesday, the players and coaches were still looking to build on their momentum and iron out the kinks in their game.
• Denmark started strong and fast, clearly still revved up after the tumultuous loss to the Americans yesterday. Just 23 seconds into the first period, Nick Olesen would put his country up by one. His forecheck disrupted Latvia's breakout. Olesen then crashed the net and deflected the shot past Arturs Silovs to tie Draisaitl for the fastest goal of these Olympic Games.
• Denmark continued to dominate the first period, getting their first power play goal of the tournament when Mikkel Aagaard scored, already collecting his second point of the game, not even five minutes in.
• Denmark added one more to their lead after an odd sequence that saw Oliver Bjorkstrand lose his stick but still manage to deflect the puck in front of the net with his skate right to Nikolaj Ehlers, who wristed it past Silovs to make it 3-0.
• As the period was coming to a close, there was a delayed penalty, briefly giving Latvia the man advantage. Kristaps Zile put a shot on net that had eyes and sailed through traffic past Frederik Andersen to give Latvia some life.
• Latvia scored again in the second period, showing their nerves had settled and they were determined to recover from the early deficit. Zile was involved again as he made a nifty pass to a wide-open Eduards Tralmaks sitting by the far post, who was able to tap it in past Andersen easily.
• The game became a one-sided shootout as Latvia took the reins and didn't let them go until the very end of the game. However, despite multiple close calls and crossbars, Andersen stood tall, and Nick Olesen got the empty net goal at the end of the third period, securing the two-goal lead and the game for Denmark.
• This was Denmark's first win of the tournament, and now they turn their eyes to Tuesday when they're scheduled to play Czechia in the knockout round.
• Although outshooting Denmark 35-21, Latvia's loss in this game drops them further in the standings, leading to them now having to play the higher seed in the qualification round, Sweden.

USA vs. Germany

• After a closer-than-expected call against Denmark, Mike Sullivan's biggest change to the roster was putting Connor Hellebuyck back in net, and it seemed to pay off.
• Team USA dominated the game from the drop of the puck, but it took them some time to beat Maximilian Franzreb. Stopping USA's first 14 shots, it was Zach Werenski's final shot of the period for USA that finally beat him. After receiving a crisp saucer pass from team captain Auston Matthews, Werenski sniped it in to give Team USA the lead.
• Although the heavily favored team in most matchups on the Olympic stage, there is for some reason always an air of tension that builds when USA fails to get going or falls behind. That was definitely felt in yesterday's match against Denmark, and it was beginning to build as they struggled to beat Germany's netminder in the first period.
• All USA needed was that one goal for the dam to break, and then the offense continued to pour in. German defenseman Kai Wissann went off for interference and USA went to work. Auston Matthews crashed the net following up on Quinn Hughes' shot, and he awkwardly put the puck into the net to extend the lead for USA 2-0.
• Brock Faber would get his first goal of the Olympics, with both Tkachuk's getting an assist, but that would be far from the least interesting thing involving a Tkachuk in today's game.
• Matthew Tkachuk and Draisaitl, after meeting in the last two Stanley Cup Finals, had quite the saga with Matthew Tkachuk's hot mic and turtling action showing the fiery winger can talk the talk but struggles to walk the walk.

• Germany had been averaging half as many shots as the Americans in the game, but a funny moment almost led to a big shorthanded chance against Team USA.

• The third period was more of the same as Team USA continued to dominate on the scoresheet. Tiny Tage Thompson showed off that blistering one-timer he's capable of to make it 4-0, and Matthews scored another awkward rebound goal to put Team USA up by five.
• Germany was keeping up with USA in the third period, matching their shot total for the first time all game. Tim Stützle broke Hellebuyck's shutout bid after getting a pass from JJ Peterka and beating the goalie's glovehand.
• Another quiet game for the Rangers on Team USA, with both Trocheck and Miller only registering a single shot on net. This type of glue must take some time to set.
• With USA's easy 5-1 victory today, they secured the second seed of the Olympics and now wait to play the winner of the Sweden/Latvia game. Despite losing, Germany also advances to the next round and will play France, with the winner facing Slovakia.