The Olympics for men's hockey began on Wednesday with Slovakia and Finland in the first game of the round robin portion. Juraj Slafkovsky was one of the big headlines from this game as the Montreal Canadiens forward scored the first goal of this year's games, but added another goal in the third period that helped secure the 4-1 victory over Finland.
While this is the first tournament for NHL players since 2014, Slafkovsky is no stranger to the Olympics, as he played in the 2022 Olympics prior to being drafted by the Montreal Canadiens first overall later that year. His performance in the Olympics helped his case for being the first overall pick, as he would score seven goals in seven games during those games.
He continued the prolific scoring on Wednesday with the two goals that were enough to surpass Alex Ovechkin, who is arguably the greatest goal scorer in hockey history. At the end of last season, Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky's goal record, and even at the age of 40 hasn't slowed down much with 22 goals already this season.
Ovechkin isn't participating in these Olympic games with Russia banned, and his career most likely will end with eight Olympic goals in 17 games.
Juraj Slafkovsky showing how valuable he is to the Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens find themselves in a better position in the standings than last year, and they have a chance to make a deep playoff run. They have seen a number of their younger players take that next step, Slafkovsky included.
Through 57 games, Slafkovsky has 21 goals (which is already a career high) and is second on the team in that category. If Slafkovsky can continue this strong performance through the Olympics, it can create momentum for him down the stretch in the regular season and into the playoffs.
Slafkovsky and Slovakia will play again on Friday, February 13th in a matchup against Italy.