2026 Olympic Men’s Hockey: Top standouts from Finland vs. Italy
Finland has closed Group B action with a commanding 11-0 win over Italy, a game that was never close to begin with.
With the win, Finland will finish second in the group. Slovakia will take top spot, while Sweden will finish third, with all three teams boasting a 2-1 record. Italy, meanwhile, finished the round-robin with a 0-3 record.
The game was a blowout from the get-go. Sebastian Aho, Mikael Granlund and Kaapo Kakko scored in the first period, with the shots being 13-2 by then.
Granund and Kakko would both score a second goal in the middle stanza, while Joel Kiviranta would tally his first of the tournament to make it a 6-0 game, with Italy registering just six shots after two periods.
Italy would swap out Damian Clara – the star against Sweden – for Davide Fadani to finish the game out in net. It was a rough go for Fadani, who allowed three goals on four shots to the likes of Aho, Artturi Lehkonen and Miro Heiskanen. History was made later on, with Joel Armia scoring the 10th goal of the night, marking the first time in the NHL player era that a team has scored double digits in a men’s Olympic hockey game. Kiviranta would score his second of the game to cap off the night in the most lopsided game of the Olympics by a country mile.
Here’s a look at the top performers from Saturday’s affair:
Finland
#77 Niko Mikkola, D (Florida Panthers): The 6-foot-6 defenseman is hard to miss out there. He’s not a flashy offensive threat, but he had an assist against Sweden and had another two today. He’s a rock-steady defender who has been allowed to stretch his wings in more offensive situations at this tournament; especially today, once the game got out of hand.
#20 Sebastian Aho, C (Carolina Hurricanes): Think Aho wanted to score badly? He put one in during the first period and then took another six shots after that, including one that made it 9-0. He was buzzing all over the ice, showing good chemistry alongside Artturi Lehkonen and Teuvo Teravainen. He’s slick, smart and has quick hands, and made sure to use it all tonight. He seemed to have a fun time out there.
#40 Joel Armia, C (Los Angeles Kings): You won’t find many better fourth-line centers at this event. He shoots, he defends, he battles hard, and he keeps his opponents on their toes. And he scored. You put that altogether and it’s easy to tell why the puck doesn’t last in the defensive zone often. It also felt like he generally spent much more time on the attack today than usual. That’s three solid outings from the speedy forward with a big frame.
#64 Mikael Granlund, C (Anaheim Ducks): Granlund always excels for Finland internationally, but he only had three shots and an assist to show for heading into today. So, Granlund made himself known by scoring two goals and taking six shots in the first two periods alone despite playing third-line minutes. He’s a wizard with the puck, and he seemed very comfortable back at center with Anton Lundell out.
#84 Kaapo Kakko, RW (Seattle Kraken): Is a two-goal, three-point night good? Kakko had an excellent game, making an impact physically and offensively nearly every time he reached the Italian net. He plays his best hockey when he can focus on getting pucks on net and he was the most impactful in that regard.
#96 Mikko Rantanen, RW: (Dallas Stars): Rantanen was everywhere physically in the bout against Sweden. Today, he was all over the scoresheet instead with a pair of assists. His ability to dominate shifts physically proved to be too much for the smaller Italian defenders. That was his best game of the tournament from a two-way perspective.
Italy
#53 Alex Trivellato, D: There weren’t many reasons for the Italians to celebrate. But Trivellato played the heaviest minutes against Finland’s top players and was only on the ice for one goal against. So, not bad, I guess.
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