MILAN — Miracolo sul ghiaccio, it was not.
Team Italy, a 5.5-goal underdog in its Olympic opener against Sweden, put an absolute scare into Tre Kronor by scoring 4:14 into Wednesday’s game, then tying it at two 37 seconds into the second period after the Swedes had appeared to regain control.
But hard as they fought, the Azzurri couldn’t quite pull out what would have been possibly the greatest Olympic upset since the United States beat the USSR in Lake Placid.
Sweden took it by a way-too-close 5-2 margin, with William Nylander’s goal at 16:46 of the second serving as the eventual winner.
Italy is the only team in the tournament without an active NHL player, and doesn’t even have a former NHLer on its roster. All 25 Swedes have NHL experience, a combined 16,880 games of it.
But Filip Gustavsson, Sweden’s starter in net, was the one overmatched in comparison with Damian Clara, the 21-year-old Italian who was picked 60th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in 2023 and who currently plays for Brynas IF in the Swedish Hockey League.
The game took on a ridiculous feel with Sweden dominating possession as Clara made save after save, 46 in total before appearing to hurt his right leg stopping an Elias Pettersson breakaway and getting replaced by Davide Fadani 6:48 into the third.
If nothing else, Clara may have earned himself a potential entry-level contract from the Ducks.
Gustavsson made an atrocious play on an Italy dump-in 4:14 into the match, kicking the puck out to no-man’s land. Italy’s Luca Frigo was on it first and buried.
After Gabriel Landeskog and Gus Forsling both scored to put Sweden up 2-1, Gustavsson let in the fourth shot he saw all game, letting Matt Bradley beat him short-side.
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The Swedes, who came into this tournament hoping to knock off Canada and the United States for gold, did not play a particularly bad game, but as Italy hung around, they did lose some verve.
Italy, though, was predictably unable to get any kind of chances that didn’t stem from Sweden mistakes or the occasional odd-man rush, making it near-impossible to come back down 3-2.
Mika Zibanejad’s goal with just under five minutes to go sealed the win for the Swedes before Victor Hedman’s empty-netter.