Finland wins men’s 2026 Olympic hockey bronze after beating Slovakia
Finland has won bronze at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, beating Slovakia 6-1 in the men’s hockey third-place game.
It marks the team’s fourth bronze medal during the NHL participation era. Finland previously won gold in 2022 without NHLers, and came second in 2006 when the event was last in Italy.
Slovakia will fall short of medaling after winning bronze in 2022.
The game started off a little slow, as tends to happen in a bronze medal game. But at 7:27, Sebastian Aho was in the right spot to poke in Artturi Lehkonen’s shot past Samuel Hlavaj and in.
The Slovaks were probably happy it was still close after the first, only for Erik Haula to score his first of two goals today. Tomas Tatar had the lone Slovak goal, with Roope Hintz, Kaapo Kakko and Joel Armia combining to put this game out of reach.
Here’s a look at the top performers from Saturday’s contest:
Finland
#74 Juuse Saros, G (Nashville Predators): Goaltending was important in this one. The Slovaks peppered Saros throughout the second half of this one but Saros didn’t relent. He was on the ball, just like he was against Canada on Friday. Saros played his worst game of the tournament in the first game against the Slovaks, but was arguably Finland’s most important player the rest of the way.
#41 Miro Heiskanen, D (Dallas Stars): Heiskanen doesn’t make many mistakes with the puck. His point shot in the first period created the 1-0 goal, and then he played some outstanding two-way hockey for the rest. Heiskanen finished the night with two assists while leading all defenders in ice time, like he did all tournament long. Heiskanen should earn some love in the top defenseman race.
#24 Roope Hintz, C (Dallas Stars): Hintz finally scored his first goal of the tournament and added an assist for good measure. This was his most impactful game in Italy – it felt like he was on the ball today. He was quite snakebitten throughout the tournament but gave the Finns another dangerous forward through the middle of the ice today.
#56 Erik Haula, C (Nashville Predators): I’m not sure Haula had a bad game in Italy. His chemistry with Joel Armia, in particular, was remarkable. Haula was the perfect bottom-line forward – someone willing to do everything physically, while also adding a goal every now and then. Haula scored in this one to make it 2-0, with his goal becoming the eventual game-winner. He added an empty-netter just for good measure at the end.
Slovakia
#31 Samuel Hlavaj, G (Minnesota Wild): Hlavaj will wish he had the 2-0 goal back, but he looked strong otherwise. The Slovaks don’t have a ton of scoring weapons to choose from so goaltending has had to be important all tournament long. Hlavaj’s athleticism, especially his legwork, makes him really difficult to beat. Hlavaj has been one of the best in the tournament, but he just happened to go up against another contender for the prestigious top goalie award.
#90 Tomas Tatar, RW: Tatar is not as skilled or fast as he used to be, but you can count on him to be involved every time he wears his nation’s colors. He had a couple of great efforts early in this one, and proved to be tough to contain around the net. His work ethic is great – and it led him to steal the puck and get the Slovaks on the board late in the first. With Tatar’s pro career winding down, that goal will definitely go down as one of Tatar’s best career moments.