William Nylander and Sweden caught in a messy Group B tiebreaker twist
Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
William Nylander and Team Sweden were expected to be fighting for a gold medal, but now are staring elimination square in the face thanks to a three-way tie.
Coming into the 2026 Olympics, Team Sweden had a very good chance of making it to the gold medal game given how much NHL talent they have and their mix of crafty young players and some seriously legendary veterans -- it was their tournament to lose it seems.
But after a strong start against Italy, they fell 4-1 to rivals Finland in a bit of a stunner and faced Slovakia needing to dominate. They were up the necessary goals needed, but a last-minute dagger put things in a very interesting light.
Group B tiebreaker leads way to intriguing race to the finish line
Currently, there is a three-way tie between Finland, Sweden, and Slovakia in Group B, but in terms of goal differential it's actually the Slovaks who hold the advantage, though not by much. Finland is even, and Sweden is a minus-one.
This is where things get interesting, and Elliotte Friedman helped lay things out for fans who may be a bit confused:
Group B:
Finland beats Italy in regulation: three-way tie. That’s where late goal had massive implications. Tiebreak is goal differential in games between Finns, Swedes and Slovaks. Slovakia would be +1, Finland even, Sweden -1.
Any other result: Sweden 1st, beat Slovakia
Finland beats Italy in regulation: three-way tie. That’s where late goal had massive implications. Tiebreak is goal differential in games between Finns, Swedes and Slovaks. Slovakia would be +1, Finland even, Sweden -1.
Any other result: Sweden 1st, beat Slovakia
So Finland needs to take Italy out in regulation, which could lead to the Swedes finding themselves on the outs so to speak and not find a berth into the quarterfinals which would then put Slovakia into the quarterfinals.
Sweden and Nylander have a chance still, but it's not so easy
There is a case to be made about the four play-off games which still could see some teams make their way into the latter stages of the tournament however it just makes things that much harder when it comes to winning it all.
All credit to Slovakia, who may not have the strongest roster but have a secret weapon in Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slavkofsky who has an incredible 10 goals in 10 Olympic contests; for some reason he becomes Slovak Mike Bossy and it's been a treat to watch.
For Nylander and the rest of Team Sweden, they are hoping their Scandinavian rivals run into the same scrappy Italian team that faced them in the opener and gave the Swedes a bit of a scare because it might be their best chance at advancing.
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| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 14|985 ANSWERS William Nylander and Sweden caught in a messy Group B tiebreaker twist Do you think William Nylander and Team Sweden have a chance to win gold? | ||
| Yes | 301 | 30.6 % |
| No | 684 | 69.4 % |
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