Italy opens up the tournament against the Swedes on Wednesday in the biggest David vs. Goliath matchup in the preliminaries.

Get the best Sweden vs. Italy predictions ahead of their Olympic hockey clash on Wednesday. Free men's Olympic hockey picks for.

Here's a look at the box score from Sweden's opening-day win over Italy.

Nylander gave Sweden the 3-2 lead at 16:46 of the second period by picking up a loose puck on the side of the net and lifting it past Clara into an open net. It was the first Olympic goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs forward, whose status for the game was unclear after missing practice on Tuesday.

MILAN, Italy -- Underdog Italy made podium-contending Sweden work for its 5-2 win in the men's ice hockey group stage on Wednesday and Slovakia stunned defending champions Finland 4-1, as the Olympic tournament delivered thrills on its opening day.

MILAN — Miracolo sul ghiaccio, it was not. Team Italy, a 5.5-goal underdog in its Olympic opener against Sweden, threw an absolute scare into Tre Kronor by scoring 4:14 into the game, then tying it at two 37 seconds into the second period after the Swedes had appeared to regain control.

In the end, Team Italy lost to Team Sweden 5-2 at Santagiulia Arena on Wednesday in the first of three preliminary games for each team at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. The result was expected.

MILAN (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog stood on his couch as the clock ticked down to Sweden beating archrival Finland to win the gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics. The 13-year-old jumped up and down at the buzzer.

By Amy Tennery and Trevor Stynes MILAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Finland beat Nordic rivals Sweden 4-1 to get their Olympic title defence back on track on Friday, Slovakia held off hosts Italy 3-2 to stay perfect and Czech Republic beat France 6-3 on the third day of the men's ice hockey tournament.