Nylander breaks tie in 2nd period, Sweden holds off Italy in Winter Olympics Group B

MILAN – William Nylander broke a tie late in the second period and Team Sweden survived a scare from Team Italy, winning 5-2 at Santagiulia Arena in the Group B opener for each team at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Wednesday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs forward, whose status to play in the game was unclear after missing practice on Tuesday, scored on a backhand at 16:46 for his first Olympic goal.

Mika Zibanejad and Gustav Forsling each had a goal and an assist, and Gabriel Landeskog and Victor Hedman scored for Sweden (1-0-0-0), which is looking to win gold in Olympic men’s hockey for the first time since 2006. Rasmus Dahlin had three assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Sweden-Italy

Luca Frigo and Matthew Bradley scored for Italy (0-0-1-0). Anaheim Ducks prospect Damian Clara made 46 saves before exiting with an apparent lower-body injury at 6:08 of the third period.

Davide Fadani made nine saves in relief, allowing one goal.

This was the first game for Team Italy in Olympic men’s hockey since the 2006 Games in Turin and the first time it has played Team Sweden in the Olympics with NHL players.

Italy took a 1-0 lead at 4:14 of the first period when Frigo picked up a loose puck in the slot that Gustavsson mishandled and slipped it past the Sweden goalie to make it 1-0. Frigo became the first Italian player since Tony Iob to score in the Olympics, who did so on Feb. 21, 2006, against Switzerland.

The lead lasted for just over five minutes. With one second left on a slashing penalty to Italy’s Dustin Gazley, Landeskog one-timed a centering pass from Zibanejad for a power-play goal to make it 1-1 at 9:06.

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

Sweden went up 2-1 at 17:53 when Forsling broke in from the blue line to one-time a rebound of a Jesper Bratt shot past Clara, who made 25 saves in the first period.

But Italy battled back, tying the game 2-2 just 37 seconds into the second period. Gazley raced past Sweden’s defensemen at center ice, gathered a loose puck in the offensive zone, skated behind the net and fed a pass across the slot to Bradley, who one-timed it past Gustavsson. It was Italy’s second goal on just four shots.

Nylander gave Sweden the 3-2 lead by picking up a loose puck on the side of the net and lifting it past Clara.

Zibanejad made it 4-2 Sweden at 15:42 of the third, using Elias Pettersson as a screen and beating Fadani with a long-distance wrist shot from near the blue line.

Hedman scored into an empty net at 17:11 for the 5-2 final.