MILAN (AP) — Rallying around the absence of injured winger Kevin Fiala, Switzerland beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime Sunday in a crucial men’s hockey game at the Milan Cortina Olympics that should get the Swiss easily into the quarterfinals.
Winning the preliminary round finale means captain Roman Josi's team will almost certainly face France or also winless host Italy in the qualification playoffs Tuesday.
“We knew it was a big game,” said Josi, the Nashville Predators defenseman who scored Switzerland's first goal by banking the puck off Radko Gudas' left skate and in. "Obviously a lot of up and downs in that third period but found a way. It was a huge win against a really good team.”
Former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan scored the overtime winner. In 172 NHL regular-season and playoff games, he had just six goals and ranked this one top three in his career.
“I was first thinking about passing, but (Czechia's Radek Simek) gave me a little bit too much room,” Kukan said. “The shot from there is always dangerous.”
Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils and Pius Suter of the St. Louis Blues also scored for Switzerland, and 38-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced.
Fiala, the Los Angeles Kings' second-leading scorer, had surgery to repair what the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation only called a lower left leg injury. He sent his teammates a video message from his hospital bed, and coach Patrick Fischer hopes Fiala is back at the athletes' village Monday.
“He’s still with us,” said Nico Hischer, who captains the Devils in the NHL. "We’ll play for him. And obviously you hate to see injury like that. He’s one of our best players, so it’s obviously a tough loss for us. But we know he’s still engaged with us, and he’ll cheer us on.”
Czechia forced overtime on Martin Necas' goal with just over two minutes left, and Lukas Dostal made 25 saves. Even getting to OT, the team will almost certainly be the No. 8 or 9 seed, with a matchup against Germany in the qualification round most likely up next Tuesday.
"We battled hard against a very good team," Ondrej Palat of the New York Islanders said. "Too bad we lost in overtime.”
Canada and the U.S. are each in action Sunday, jockeying for the No. 1 seed. Canada faces France, while the U.S. plays Germany, with goal differential crucial to determining who finishes atop the tournament and who is second and will probably have to face all-NHL Sweden in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics