On Wednesday, the Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament began at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan with Slovakia and Sweden opening Group B play with victories. Action will ramp up even further today with four games on the schedule, including Sidney Crosby leading Team Canada against Czechia in Group A while the Americans open Group C play by taking on Arturs Silvos and Latvia.
In other games set for Thursday, Switzerland takes on France in Group A and Denmark does battle with Germany in Group C.
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Puck drop for Canada is set for 10:40 AM EST and can be seen on USA or Peacock. For the United States, puck drop is scheduled for 3:10 PM EST, airing on USA or Peacock as well.
Pens Points…
There is plenty of Penguins representation at the Olympics, with Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, Erik Karlsson, and Arturs Silovs all taking part. Even on the women’s side, there are four Penguins’ Elite alumni representing the United States in Milan. [Penguins]
Already a decorated Olympian himself, Erik Karlsson returns to the Olympics with a silver medal on his resume from the Sochi Games in 2014. Now an elder statesman of the bunch, Karlsson is relishing the opportunity to once again represent his country on the Olympic stage. [Penguins]
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Between making his NHL debut and his play in the AHL, Avery Hayes is on a heater at the moment and gets the nod for AHL Player of the Week. Taking after Hayes, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are hot as a team, winning five straight with their sights set on a playoff bye. [Pensburgh]
Every summer, we go through the evaluate the Penguins top 25 players under the age of 25 years old. With the team on hiatus for the Olympics, now seems like a good time to check in on our list of prospects from this past summer and see how their seasons are going thus far. [Pensburgh]
In his NHL debut last week against the Buffalo Sabres, Avery Hayes played a starring role with a pair of goals to help jumpstart the Penguins to victory. As a bonus, Hayes was wearing a microphone for the game and the Penguins digital team caught some good sound bites from the rookie. [Penguins]
After years of disappointing bottom six play, this season’s Penguins team has been blessed with routinely great play coming out of the third and fourth lines. Most notably, the current fourth line has been a buzzsaw against opponents, regularly closing down games when asked. [PPG]
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NHL News and Notes…
In the first Olympic hockey game featuring NHL players since 2014, Slovakia pulled off a massive upset with a 4-1 victory over Finland. Juraj Slafkovsky, who participated four years ago before being drafted, recorded two goals and an assists to give his country a massive leg up in Group B. [NHL]
It was always going to be an uphill battle for hosts Italy in this tournament and starting off against medal favorites Sweden was a tough draw, but the home side battled away and put a scare into the Swedes before ultimately falling 5-2 in their Olympic opener. [NHL]
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