Thursday marked a strong opening day for Vegas Golden Knights players at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Canada cruised past Czechia 5-0 in Group A, while Team USA defeated Latvia 5-1 in Group C.
Knights captain Mark Stone scored Canada’s second goal at 6:40 of the second period, finishing a pretty give-and-go sequence with Mitch Marner and Sidney Crosby. Marner sent a saucer pass over a diving Czechia defenseman to Stone for the tap-in. “It was a good first step for us,” Marner said. “We’ll just try to keep getting better.” Eleven Canadian players recorded a point; Knights defenseman Shea Theodore was not among them, logging two shots in 15:25 minutes. Theodore stayed healthy after breaking his wrist in the first period of the 4 Nations Face-Off last year. Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped all 26 shots for the shutout.
Knights center Tomas Hertl centered Czechia’s top line with Martin Necas and David Pastrnak. The trio combined for five shots (Hertl had three), but Hertl struggled in the faceoff circle, winning just 3 of 12 draws. Czechia will face France on Friday.
In the U.S. game, Jack Eichel recorded two power-play assists, setting up goals by Tage Thompson and Auston Matthews. He was also on the ice for Brady Tkachuk’s opening goal at 5:29 of the first period. The Americans had two first-period goals disallowed on Latvia challenges and hit two posts, entering the first intermission tied 1-1 after Renars Krastenbergs scored for Latvia. But Brock Nelson scored twice in the second period, and Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the win. Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin, playing as the seventh defenseman, finished plus-2 in 11:01 minutes.
Canada faces Switzerland on Friday, potentially against Knights goalie Akira Schmid, who was the backup in Switzerland’s 4-0 win over France. Team USA is off Friday and plays Denmark on Saturday.
