Matthew Tkachuk dished out two assists for Team USA while Uvis Balinskis clocked heavy minutes for Latvia in the Olympic-opening victory for the U.S.
Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk and his American teammates put on a strong showing in their first taste of Olympic action on Thursday.
The United States took down Team Latvia 5-1 to start their 2026 Winter Olympic journey and will now gear up for a weekend back-to-back against Denmark and Germany to close out their preliminary round action.
If the U.S. finishes the three games with the best record of their Group B opponents, they will receive a bye to the quarterfinals, as will the other two group winners and the best of the remaining second-place teams.
The eight remaining teams will face each other in a single-game elimination to see who advances to the quarterfinals.
Matthew Tkachuk and his brother, Brady, got things started for the Americans, with Matthew setting up Brady for the game’s opening goal at the 5:29 mark of the opening period.
Matthew would add a second assist late in the second period, picking up a helper on Brock Nelson’s second goal of the night.
When the dust settled, Matthew Tkachuk finished the game with the two assists, four shots on goal and a plus-2 on-ice rating while skating 17:55 of ice time.
There were also a pair of Panthers players on Team Latvia who were leaned on quite a bit during the game.
Defenseman Uvis Balinskis led all players in time on ice with 24:13; the next highest was U.S. blieliner Quinn Hughes, who played 21:29.
Despite his team losing by four, Balinskis finished with a plus-1 on-ice rating while adding a pair of shots on goal.
Vilmanis played 20 shifts and logged 15:40 on the ice, finishing with one shot and a minus-1 rating.
Similarly to the U.S., Latvia also will play back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday against Germany and Denmark, respectively, to see which team will receive their automatic ticket to the quarterfinals.
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA
Photo caption: Feb 12, 2026; Milan, Italy; Matthew Tkachuk of United States in action with Renars Krastenbergs of Latvia in men's ice hockey group C play during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)