• Team USA dominated Slovakia 6-2 in the men’s hockey semifinal behind a two-goal performance from Jack Hughes and stellar goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck
• The Americans will face Canada in Sunday’s gold medal game at 8:10 a.m. ET, their first final since losing to the Canadians in Vancouver 16 years ago
• Both teams face injury questions heading into the final, with Tage Thompson held out of the third period for Team USA and Sidney Crosby missing Canada’s semifinal entirely

MILAN, ITALY (TDR) — Team USA punched its ticket to the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game Friday with a commanding 6-2 demolition of Slovakia, setting up the showdown the hockey world has been waiting for: United States vs. Canada, Sunday morning in Milan.

It marks the first time the U.S. men’s hockey team has reached the Olympic final since the 2010 Vancouver Games, where Canada took gold. The Americans haven’t won Olympic gold in men’s hockey since the legendary “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 — 46 years ago to the day.

Hughes, Hellebuyck Lead Olympic Hockey Rout

The Americans left little doubt from the opening faceoff. Dylan Larkin set the tone early, exploiting a Slovak line change to score the game’s first goal. Tage Thompson followed with a power-play blast to make it 2-0 after one period.

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The second period belonged entirely to the Americans. Jack Hughes scored twice in a dominant stretch — including a deke that put Slovakia’s Tomas Tatar on the ice — and Jack Eichel added another just 20 seconds after Hughes’ first to push the lead to 5-0.

“We’re playing a really good team on Sunday, but we got all the belief in the world in this room and confidence in our guys, and we got to bring our A-game,” Auston Matthews told NBC after the win.

Connor Hellebuyck carried a shutout into the third period before Juraj Slafkovsky and Pavol Regenda found the net for Slovakia. Brady Tkachuk added a breakaway goal to cap the 6-2 victory. Late-game fisticuffs between the Tkachuk brothers and Slovakia’s Erik Cernak added some extra spice to the closing minutes.

Hellebuyck, who entered the game with the tournament’s best save percentage at .958, stopped 22 of 24 shots and has been the backbone of the American run through Milan.

Canada Survives Finland Scare In Olympic Hockey Semifinal

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The contrast in semifinal performances could not be sharper. While the Americans cruised, Canada needed a last-minute goal from Nathan MacKinnon with just 35 seconds remaining to beat Finland 3-2 after trailing 2-0.

“As soon as we got down 2-0, I thought we were the better team the rest of the way,” Canada’s Connor McDavid said. “Finland defends very, very well. They’re a very hard team to score against and we put ourselves in a tough spot, but we just slowly, slowly but surely clawed our way back into the game.”

Canada played without captain Sidney Crosby, who has been sidelined with a lower-body injury since a quarterfinal hit from Czechia’s Radko Gudas. Coach Jon Cooper offered cautious optimism about Crosby’s availability Sunday.

“He’s got a better chance of playing in the gold medal game than he had playing in tonight’s game,” Cooper said after the Finland win.

Injury Watch Looms Over Olympic Gold Medal Game

Both teams now face critical injury questions with 48 hours until puck drop. Thompson was held out of the third period for “precautionary reasons” and was spotted walking the arena hallways without his skates. His status for Sunday remains uncertain, and losing his power-play production — three goals and an assist through five games — would be a significant blow.

For Canada, the Crosby question carries even more weight. The 38-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist has been the emotional engine of the Canadian roster. His absence was noticeable against Finland, even as McDavid stepped into the captain’s role and finished with two assists to push his tournament-leading point total to 13.

The Americans, meanwhile, carry momentum and balance. Six different goal scorers lit the lamp against Slovakia, Hellebuyck has been nearly unbeatable, and defenseman Quinn Hughes delivered the overtime winner against Sweden in the quarterfinals.

The last time these two met with everything on the line was the 4 Nations Face-Off final last February, where Canada edged the U.S. 2-1 in overtime. Before that, Canada took gold at Vancouver 2010 and Salt Lake City 2002.

“I can kind of see both sides of it playing in Canada and representing the US, so it’s a great rivalry,” said Matthews, who captains the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. “It’s going to be a really exciting match on Sunday.”

With the women already bringing home gold in a dramatic overtime victory over Canada on Thursday, can the U.S. men complete the sweep and end a 46-year Olympic gold medal drought — or will Canada’s comeback resilience prove the difference on Sunday?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from NBC Olympics’ live coverage of the USA-Slovakia semifinal, Yahoo Sports’ semifinal recap, CBS Sports’ game analysis, NHL.com’s Canada-Finland recap, NPR’s coverage of the USA-Canada rivalry, CNN’s Day 14 Olympics updates, NHL.com’s Crosby injury update, Yahoo Sports’ Thompson injury report, reporting by Sports Illustrated on the semifinal takeaways, and Olympics.com’s coverage of Canada’s comeback win.

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