Slovakian superstar: "What a match! I've never celebrated a loss!"

MILANO.

Slovakia is organizing an amazing feat in the group stage of the Olympics.

If Finland wins against Italy in regular time, Slovakia will be the group winner, Finland second, and Sweden third. That would be quite a blow for Slovakia, which is clearly behind Finland and Sweden on paper.

The decisive moment turned out to be Slovakia’s 3-5 reduction against Sweden right at the end of the match. If Sweden had won 5-2, they would have won the group and Finland would have been third (if Finland wins against Italy).

– What a match! I’ve never celebrated a loss before! There’s a first time for everything, Slovakia’s biggest star Juraj Slafkovsky said after the game.

– I just shot at the goal. Suddenly, I saw the puck in the net and I just started jumping. Crazy, because we were still two goals behind.

The goal was scored by Dalibor Dvorsky, who had something to say about Slafkovsky.

– We knew we had to look for one more goal. We rely on Finland winning against Italy in regular time, Dvorsky said.

– We don’t have as big names as Sweden or Canada, but we have Slafkovsky. He is quite a good player.

The 21-year-old Slafkovsky has played 57 games this season with the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 21+24=45 points. In the Olympics, the winger has been everything for his country. Slafkovsky has scored three goals and three assists in three games.

– He is incredible as a person and as a player. We haven’t had a player of that level for a long, long time, Dvorsky said.

– We Slovaks are a bit too critical of him because everyone expects him to score five goals in every game.

Finally, Slafkovsky was asked what it feels like to be at the top of the tournament’s scoring leaderboard alongside Canada’s Connor McDavid.

– I’ve been lucky to be there, and he deserves his spot, Slafkovsky laughed.

Jaakko Perttilä
X: @JaakkoPerttila