On the first day of men’s ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy gave Sweden a scare despite Sweden’s 5-2 victory.
Team Italy, who is only one of the 12 teams in the tournament due to being the host country, got off to a hot start by scoring first on Sweden, one of the favorites to medal. Italy and Sweden were even tied halfway through the game, as Sweden couldn’t hit the back of the net.
Overall, Sweden controlled the game, producing 60 shots on goal while holding Italy to just 16 shots. However, Italian goalie Damian Clara stood tall, producing the first standout performance of the men’s ice hockey portion of the Olympics.
Clara suffered an injury late in the game, as Sweden’s constant pressure may have put Clara into too much action. While the score ended up as a three-goal Sweden win, the Swedes definitely felt as if they should’ve won by more.
Here’s a look at the box score from Sweden’s opening-day win over Italy.
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Sweden vs. Italy box score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
| Sweden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Italy | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Sweden stats
| Player | Pos | G | A | P | +/- | TOI |
| Philip Broberg | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18:02 |
| Joel Eriksson Ek | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17:00 |
| Adrian Kempe | F | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16:13 |
| Erik Karlsson | D | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 20:56 |
| William Nylander | F | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16:27 |
| Lucas Raymond | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15:25 |
| Rasmus Dahlin | D | 0 | 3 | 3 | +1 | 19:52 |
| Gustav Forsling | D | 1 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 18:53 |
| Jesper Bratt | F | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16:36 |
| Rasmus Andersson | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19:05 |
| Elias Lindholm | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15:12 |
| Elias Pettersson | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 13:22 |
| Rickard Rakell | F | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 13:17 |
| Victor Hedman | D | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 21:12 |
| Mika Zibanelad | F | 1 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 13:43 |
| Alexander Wennberg | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14:04 |
| Pontus Holmberg | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14:30 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | F | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13:25 |
| Filip Forsberg | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1:07 |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 |
| Goalie | Team | Shots faced | Saves | Goals allowed | Save percentage |
| Filip Gustavvson | SWE | 16 | 14 | 2 | .875 |
Italy stats
| Player | Pos | G | A | P | +/- | TOI |
| Dustin Gazley | F | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 16:19 |
| Matt Bradley | F | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 16:26 |
| Thomas Larkin | D | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15:42 |
| Christiano DiGiacinto | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16:54 |
| Alex Trivellato | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16:05 |
| Alessandro Segafredo | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 16:35 |
| Alex Petan | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16:25 |
| Phil Pietroniro | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 14:28 |
| Luca Zanatta | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 14:59 |
| Mats Frycklund | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17:50 |
| Daniel Mantenuto | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13:39 |
| Daniel Glira | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14:29 |
| Tommy Purdeller | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12:43 |
| Gregory di Tomaso | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14:49 |
| Luca Frigo | F | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12:58 |
| Jason Seed | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 15:13 |
| Diego Kostner | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 12:50 |
| Giovanni Morini | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 13:25 |
| Tommaso de Luca | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 13:05 |
| Dylan di Perna | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 13:18 |
| Goalie | Team | Shots faced | Saves | Goals allowed | Save percentage |
| Damian Clara | ITA | 49 | 46 | 3 | .939 |
| Davide Fadani | ITA | 9 | 8 | 1 | .889 |
