St. Louis Blues 2023 first-round pick helps fuel 4-1 win over Finland to open Milano Cortina Games; Broberg, Sweden open with scare against host Italy before pulling away
No sweat for Dalibor Dvorsky in his Olympic debut.
The 20-year-old St. Louis Blues center, a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, made his first appearance for Slovakia a memorable one with the game-winning goal and an assist to help the Slovaks upset Finland, 4-1, at Santagiulia IHO Arena in Milan, Italyon Wednesday.
Dvorsky scored on a net front loose puck rebound, beating Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators) at 7:20 of the third period to break a 1-1 deadlock:
Dvorsky would add an assist on Juraj Slafkovsky's (Montreal Canadiens) second goal of the game, a power-play goal at 10:30 to add insurance to Slovakia's upset win and stir the pot to open the men's portion of Group B preliminary round play.
Dvorsky had two shots on goal and was a plus-1 in 11:14 of ice time as the third-line center in the game and was the game's third star; he became the youngest Slovakian player to score a goal in the Olympics (20 years, 241 days) with NHL players, according to NHL public relations:
* Sweden 5, Italy 2 -- The Swedes were scared enough into perhaps a second upset in as many games against the host country, which comes in with the lowest odds of advancing into the medal round, but Blues defenseman Philip Broberg and company would eventually pull away late in the third period in another Group B preliminary game.
Broberg, also in his first Olympics representing Sweden, did not record any points but had two shots on goal in 18:02 of time on ice while skating on a defensive pairing with Erik Karlsson (Pittsburgh Penguins).
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