The 2026 Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament has completed the Group stage and is now on to the single-elimination playoffs. Canada, USA, Slovakia, and Finland earned byes into the quarterfinal, which means we have eight teams vying for four more spots in the quarterfinals during the qualifying round on Tuesday. My Olympic hockey best bets are on a roll with four consecutive wins, and I’m looking to keep that momentum rolling with two best bets for Tuesday’s action.
Don’t forget you can also get our Winter Olympics hockey picks throughout the entire tournament.
Winter Olympics Men’s Ice Hockey best bet: Czechia -2.5 (+110) vs Denmark
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Team Czechia underperformed in Group play, but David Pastrnak and company have a chance to right the ship in the qualifying round against Denmark. The Czechs had a tough draw being placed in the game group as Canada, and they predictably fell to the Canadians by a score of 5-0. Czechia also fell to Switzerland in overtime and needed a comeback effort to take down France by a score of 6-3 in their lone win of Group play. Despite their struggles, Czechia is still heavily favored over Denmark in this matchup, telling us that oddsmakers aren’t deterred by Czechia’s Group play performance heading into the qualifying round.
Team Denmark has little NHL firepower beyond Nikolaj Ehlers and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Ehlers has been effective with 3 points on a goal and 2 assists through 3 games, but Bjorkstrand has struggled to make an impact, as he has just one assist through 3 games. Ehlers and Bjorkstrand are experienced NHL scorers, but they are not used to taking on leading roles. They are at their best when playing in complimentary roles with their respective NHL teams, and Bjorkstrand’s struggles have hindered Denmark’s offensive ceiling.
Conversely, Team Czechia has elite NHL scorers they can rely on. Martin Necas is tied for 7th in the tournament with 5 points on 2 goals and 3 assists, and both Pastrnak and Filip Hronek have 3 points through 3 games. Pastrnak has just a single goal on 9 shots, but in an elimination game against a beatable opponent, look for the 29-year-old star to come out firing looking to take over the game. Lukas Dostal also gives the Czechs the edge in net over Frederik Andersen, who may need to turn back the clock in order to pull off a major upset. Take confidence backing Czechia to win this game handily.
Winter Olympics Men’s Ice Hockey best bet: Latvia vs Sweden over 6.5 (+124)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Team USA awaits the winner of Latvia vs Sweden in a game that sees the Swedes as the overwhelming favorite. However, the value in this matchup lies with the over. Team Sweden possess strong NHL talent up and down the lineup, and although it hasn’t materialized to great heights so far, the Swedes have a favorable matchup against a Latvian team that owns a less-than-ideal team save percentage of .866 to go along with a 4.01 goals-against average in this tournament. Sweden’s shooting percentage of 7.53% is the second-worst mark of the tournament so far, but there is simply too much scoring talent on this roster for that to continue. Sweden’s scoring has been fairly spread out, but with stars like William Nylander, Lucas Raymond, Adrian Kempe, and Filip Forsberg, it’s only a matter of time before Sweden puts forth a strong offensive effort. Latvia could be the ideal opponent for that to happen.
High-scoring games have been a theme for Team Latvia in this tournament, as all 3 of Team Latvia’s games have featured at least 6 total goals. The Latvians may not have the NHL firepower that Sweden possesses, but they’ve shown they can put up a fight in this tournament. Offensively, Zemgus Girgensons is leading the way with 4 assists, while Renars Krastenbergs and Eduards Tralmaks have 3 points apiece. Sweden has shown plenty of holes defensively, and is one of 3 teams to allow a short-handed goal in this tournament. Look for Latvia to come out firing looking to pull off the upset. Given Sweden’s struggles, Latvia should be able to score enough to push this one over the total.
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that these teams have spent plenty of time in the penalty box so far in this tournament. Sweden’s 15 penalties were the most in Group play, while Latvia’s 13 penalties are 3rd among the 12-team field. If that trend continues and both teams give each other plenty of power play opportunities, the over will remain in play throughout the contest.
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