2026 Winter Olympics: Quinn Hughes scores game-winning goal in OT, sends United States past Sweden

Team USA and Sweden sat scoreless through one period in Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup, but the U.S. got on the board first in the second period. Dylan Larkin buried a deflection with 8:57 to play in the frame, making it a 1-0 lead for the Americans. That score looked like it would hold as the third period went along, but Sweden didn’t go down easily.

With the goalie leaving the ice, the Swedes got on the board. Mika Zibanejad got the game-tying goal with 1:31 left, with Lucas Raymond and Gabriel Landeskog credited with assists. Just like that, it was all tied up at 1-1, and the game then headed to OT.

Team USA had its opportunities early in the extra period, but was unable to get anything through. That is, until Quinn Hughes hit the right post and banked the punk into the net past the Swedish goaltender, sealing a 2-1 victory for the United States.

Team USA went undefeated through the preliminary round at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Americans took down Latvia 5-1 and beat Denmark 6-3, and closed out the 3-0 start with a 5-1 win over Germany. That set up the matchup with Sweden in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

With the win, the United States remains in contention for its first Olympics medal since 2010 in Vancouver. The Americans have not won gold in Olympic competition since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team did so.

Now, the U.S will get ready to play Slovakia on Friday. Slovakia advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2 victory over Germany on Wednesday after going 2-1 in the preliminary round. The lone loss came to Sweden, 5-3, on Saturday.