Florida's Olympic contingent continues to shine as the tournament heats up and heads into the playoff round.
The preliminary round of the hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics has come to an end.
A total of ten Florida Panthers players are spread across five different teams, and all have been representing their respective nations admirably.
The Canadian Panthers are heading into the quarterfinals as the top seed, helping their country win all three of their preliminary games by a combined score of 20-3.
No, that is not a typo.
Canada will await the winner of Wednesday’s match between Czechia and Denmark.
Brad Marchand played well in Canada’s 5-0 opening win over Czechia, logging 9:29 of ice time and picking up an assist, but he’s been held out of their two games since.
Despite not playing, Marchand has been practicing with Team Canada – including on Sunday morning – and will hopefully be good to go when they pick things up in the playoff round.
Canadian and Panthers teammates Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett each picked up their first points of the tournament, assists on a goal by Bo Horvat, during the third period of Sunday’s 10-2 win over France.
Bennett has seen the least amount of ice time of any Canadian forward thus far, averaging just 9:03 of time on ice per game, while Reinhart has seen his ice time jump in each of the three wins, going from 10:01 to 13:21 to 14:28 on Sunday.
Reinhart has racked up five total shots and has a plus-2 on-ice rating while Bennett has four shots and a plus-1 rating.
Florida’s Finnish contingent will await the winner of Switzerland and Italy after finishing second in Group B but getting through to the quarterfinals as the top-ranked second-place team.
Anton Lundell missed Finland’s 11-0 trouncing of Italy on Saturday due to an illness, but hopefully he’ll be well enough to play when Finland is back in action on Wednesday.
He’s picked up a goal on two shots, two penalty minutes and a plus-2 on-ice rating, all coming in Finland’s big 4-1 win over Sweden on Friday.
Through three games, the other Florida Finns have also done well.
Eetu Luostarinen has picked up three assists and a plus-5 on-ice rating while defenseman Niko Mikkola has accumulated three assists, eight shots on goal and a plus-7 rating.
The four remaining Olympic Panthers are all wrapped up in the same playoff bracket.
First, Gus Forsling and Sweden will face Uvis Balinskis, Sandis Vilmanis and Latvia on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to face Matthew Tkachuk and Team USA in the quarterfinals.
Forsling has been a steady force on the Swedish blueline, racking up a goal and an assist on six shots and a plus-2 on-ice rating.
The Latvians have leaned on Balinskis, as no player on their roster has logged more minutes. Balinskis has picked up an assist and six shots while averaging 24:58 of ice time through their three matches, while Vilmanis has registered six shots and is a minus-1, though his shot total has increased every game he’s suited up for.
As for Tkachuk, he has been playing lights out for the Americans, mostly skating on a line with his brother Brady Tkachuk and Jack Eichel.
Through three games, Tkachuk has five assists, nine shots on goal and two penalty minutes while skating to a plus-5 on-ice rating.
Everyone will get the day off on Monday, then Tuesday will begin the qualification playoff round. The winners will advance to face the teams that finished atop Groups A, B and C (and Finland) on Wednesday.
From there, we get to the final four teams and the medal round.
Two semifinal matches are scheduled for Friday at 10:40 a.m. ET and 3:10 p.m. ET.
The bronze medal game is set for Saturday at 2:40 p.m. ET while the gold medal game will be played Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET.
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Photo caption: Feb 15, 2026; Milan, Italy; Cale Makar of Canada, Sidney Crosby of Canada, Connor McDavid of Canada and Sam Reinhart of Canada react against France in men's ice hockey group A play during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)