Olympics: Switzerland Shuts Out Italy 3-0

 

Switzerland advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 shutout of Italy on Tuesday at Rho Arena. Leonardo Genoni turned aside all 20 shots he faced, while Nico Hischier recorded a goal and two assists to lead the Swiss offense. Philipp Kurashev and Roman Josi also scored in the win. Italy finished the tournament without a victory and has not won a game at an Olympics since 1988 in Nagano, Japan. Switzerland will face Finland in Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup.

Italy Lineup:

Digiacinto - Bradley - Gazley

Saracino - Frycklund - De Luca

Frigo - Mantenuto - Petan

Morini - Zanetti - Segafredo

Zanatta - Pietroniro

Trivellato - Larkin

Glira - Di Tomaso

Di Perna - Seed

Clara

Switzerland Lineup:

Kurashev - Hischier - Meier

Andrighetto - Suter - Niederreiter

Schmid - Thurkauf - Bertschy

Knak - Jager - Riat

Josi - Moser

Siegenthaler - Kukan

Marti - Fora

Berni - Glauser

Genoni

Philipp Kurashev opened the scoring early in the first period when he collected the rebound of Nico Hischier's shot and struck from the right circle, getting the puck past Damian Clara at 18:41 to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead. At 9:35, Roman Josi made it 2-0 off a pass from Sven Andrighetto for a power-play goal from just outside the left circle. Hischier also picked up an assist on the second Swiss goal.

Hischier increased Switzerland's lead to 3-0 when Damien Riat got the puck from Timo Meier before handing it off to Hischier, who ripped a one-timer from in close that went over Clara's blocker at 14:07 of the second period.

Notes:

- This was Leonardo Genoni's second shutout in three starts in these Olympics. In three games, he has allowed three goals. ...He became just the second Swiss goaltender to post multiple shutouts at an Olympics with NHL players, joining Jonas Hiller (2014).

- Timo Meier collected a pair of assists. ...Meier recorded his team-leading fifth point of the 2026 Olympics, one shy of the Swiss single-tournament record during Olympics with NHL participation (Jean-Jacques Aeschlimann: 6 in 2002).

- Nico Hischier posted 0-2--2 in the opening period, tying the Swiss record for assists in a period at an Olympics with NHL players (also Mathias Seger on Feb. 20, 2010). Only one player from any country has recorded more in a single frame: Patrick Marleau (0-3--3 in P2 on Feb. 14, 2014). ...Hischier (1-2--3) scored his first goal of the tournament and tied Roman Wick (1-2--3 on Feb. 20, 2010) for the most points in a game by a Swiss player at an Olympics with NHL participation.

- Roman Josi scored to give Switzerland a 2-0 lead and improved to 2-2--4 (4 GP), tied for the most points among defensemen in the tournament. One of the players he matched is teammate J.J. Moser, who already holds the Swiss defenseman record for most points at an Olympics with NHL participation.

- Damian Clara made a total of 48 saves for Italy.

- Switzerland will face Team Finland in the quarterfinals, marking only the second Olympic meeting between the countries with NHL players. Their only prior matchup also came in Italy - a 5-0 Finland win in the 2006 round robin.

- Switzerland has reached the quarterfinals at an Olympics with NHL players for the third time - previously in 2010 (lost to Team USA, eventual silver medalist) and 2006 (faced Team Sweden, eventual gold medalist).

- This marks the second all-time Olympic meeting between Team Italy and Team Switzerland with NHL involvement. The only other matchup came in the 2006 round robin (3-3 tie).