NHL players are back at the Olympics, and preliminary play opens with two contests in Milan. Here is the schedule, where to watch and scores.

Welcome back to… record scratch… Welcome to our first edition of Olympic hockey predictions here at Last Word On Hockey, where we will be covering the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics each day throughout the preliminary round and beyond.

It’s Day 5 of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, with eight gold medals on the line. The first went to Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen, who added Alpine skiing’s super-G to his downhill and team combined titles.

NHL players are returning to the Olympics for the first time since 2014. Here are the rosters and schedule, plus how to watch:

If Sweden and Finland aren't at the top of Group B at the conclusion of the preliminary round, then the Olympics will have turned upside down.

The NHL hosted the 4 Nations Face-Off in February of last year as a primer for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and to reintroduce fans to best-on-best hockey. Just a few months later in the Western Conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs,

One period earlier, Knight scored her 14th career Olympic goal, tying the American record held by Natalie Darwitz and Katie King. Knight did it in style too, taking a feed from teammate Laila Edwards and beating Finnish goalie Sanni Ahola short-side top corner.

When Kaapo Kakko suffered his second injury of the NHL season in mid-November, the Finn had genuine concern it would interfere with his Olympic dreams.

Sebastian Aho called representing Finland in his Olympics debut “a dream come true” and the Carolina Hurricanes center is ready to win gold.

The NHL players compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014, as the 2026 Men's Hockey Tournament is scheduled to start on February 11 in Milan. There will be 12 teams competing in the group stage,

Lehtonen is not the only player on Team Finland with Olympic experience. Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was playing for HIFK in Liiga, Finland's top hockey league, and Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen with Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League, when they were Lehtonen's teammates at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.