2026 Winter Olympics hockey a win for USA and NHL — and for the Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers forward Mackie Samoskevich hadn’t missed a minute of the men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
And neither he nor the rest of his Panthers teammates were going to miss the finale Sunday even if they had a practice scheduled to start when the long-awaited gold-medal game between the United States and Canada was set to be wrapping up.
The team meeting initially set for that morning? Canceled.
Instead, the 19 players who weren’t in Italy representing their home countries and the Panthers huddled together to watch the championship game unfold before getting to work.
“If we get on the ice late,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Saturday, “that’s because the game went to overtime. It will take precedence.”
There were plenty of rooting interests for the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions.
There was national pride for most of the roster. Eleven of the 19 Panthers players who would be at the Baptist Health IcePlex for practice late Sunday morning are from Canada or the United States.
There were also teammates on both sides of the matchup. Star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk played for the United States, while president of hockey operations Bill Zito and head equipment manager Teddy Richards were also on Team USA. Forwards Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart were on Team Canada.
And they certainly got a good game to watch to close out the tournament.
New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal 1:41 into overtime to lead the United States to a 2-1 win over Canada. It was just the USA’s third ever gold medal in men’s hockey and the first since 1980.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Boldy opened scoring for the United States six minutes into regulation before Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar tied the score for Canada with 1:44 left in the second. Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves for the United States, including a couple on breakaways by Canadian stars Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini.
Tkachuk, who served as one of the United States’ alternate captains, had six assists in six games, the fourth most of any player in the tournament, to help the United States win gold after helping the Panthers win the Stanley Cup each of the past two seasons.
“The United States of America, the greatest country in the world, deserves this,” Tkachuk said to TSN after the game, “because we’ve been knocking at the door for a long time, and we’ve got the game of hockey right now. I’m so honored to be a part of this team.”
It was a thrilling end to a thrilling tournament — the first Olympics with NHL participation since 2014 — that had the Panthers’ fingerprints all over it.
The Panthers sent an NHL-high 10 players and five additional members of the organization to Milan to represent six countries. That number could have been as many as 13 if it weren’t for injuries. Captain Aleksander Barkov (Finland) and defenseman Seth Jones (United States) were named Olympians but were injured after the announcement — Barkov needing surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee after a noncontact injury in training camp; Jones sustaining an upper-body injury in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2 that still has him sidelined. Meanwhile, forward Tomas Nosek (Czechia) likely would have been a shoo-in as well if not for an offseason knee injury that has kept him out of action all season.
“It has been so much fun to watch,’’ Samoskevich, who grew up in Newtown, Connecticut, said after Florida’s practice Saturday — the first for the team since the Olympic break began Feb. 6. “I think it’s great for the game. Everyone is loving it.”
For Samoskevich to see the United States win it all?
“Extremely proud,” the 23-year-old said. “Especially with a lot of Canadians in the room. It feels good to kind of rub it in a little bit.”
And the Americans and Canadians weren’t the only ones to leave Italy with hardware.
Team Finland — which had three Panthers players in Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola plus assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu — won the bronze medal with a convincing 6-1 win over Slovakia on Saturday.
So seven of the Panthers’ NHL-high 10 players — and 10 of 15 members of the organization overall — that went to Milan left as part of the top three teams.
“Coming off the plane with seven medals, that’s what we’re cheering for,” Maurice said Saturday, a few hours before Finland won bronze. “Pretty good haul for a hockey team if you can have that many guys feel it.”
The other five from the Panthers who were part of the Olympics: defenseman Uvis Balinskis and forward Sandis Vilmanis for Latvia; defenseman Gustav Forsling and assistant coach Myles Fee for Sweden; and assistant coach Jamie Kompon for Germany.
“You’re cheering for your guys,” Maurice said. “It’s tough when they’re playing against each other. You’re so much more attached to the player than the team.”
Soon enough, the whole Panthers team will be reunited again. Florida resumes its schedule on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
At that point, the final push to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and try to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup begins.
It won’t be easy. The Panthers (29-25-3, 61 points) are eight points back of the Boston Bruins (32-20-5, 69 points) for the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot with 25 games left on the schedule. Florida has a lot of ground to make up and not a lot of time to do it.
“It’s high urgency,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said.
Final stats at 2026 Olympics
United States
Matthew Tkachuk: Six games played, six assists, 16 shots on goal, 16:13 average time on ice
Canada
Sam Reinhart: Six games played, one goal, one assist, nine shots on goal, 10:08 average time on ice
Brad Marchand: Four games played, one assist, seven shots on goal, 9:31 average time on ice
Sam Bennett: Five games played, one assist, eight shots on goal, 9:55 average time on ice
Finland
Anton Lundell: Five games played, one goal, one assist, 10 shots on goal, plus-3 rating, 54.12% face-off win percentage, 16:49 average time on ice.
Eetu Luostarinen: Six games played, four assists, four shots on goal, plus-4 rating, 15:59 average time on ice
Niko Mikkola: Six games played, three assists, 11 shots on goal, plus-9 rating, 19:19 average time on ice
Sweden
Gustav Forsling: Five games played, one goal, one assist, eight shots on goal, plus-3 rating, 19:41 average time on ice
Latvia
Uvis Balinskis: Four games played, one assist, six shots on goal, 24:41 average time on ice
Sandis Vilmanis: Four games played, zero points, six shots on goal, minus-4 rating, 15:51 average time on ice
This story was originally published February 22, 2026 at 11:05 AM.
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