Denmark vs Czechia Prediction, Odds and Winter Olympics Men's Ice Hockey Picks for Today, 02/17/26

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 same group as Canada, and they predictably fell to the Canadians 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 and for him 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.

Denmark vs Czechia prediction: Czechia -2.5 (+110) available at time of publishing. Playable to +100.

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