Elvis Merzlikins’ experience at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is over.
Getting back into the net for Latvia after sitting back-to-back games, the Blue Jackets goalie finished his time in Milan, Italy, with a 5-1 loss to Sweden in the playoff qualification round Feb. 17. Sweden advanced to play the United States on Feb. 18 in a quarterfinals matchup of powerhouse teams.
Merzlikins played the two toughest opponents that Latvia faced in the tournament, allowing five goals on 28 shots against Sweden after allowing four goals on 32 shots in a 5-1 loss to the U.S. on Feb. 12 to open Group C play in the preliminary round.
In each game he played, the Blue Jackets goalie started strong before succumbing to heavy pressure from both U.S. and Sweden rosters comprised exclusively of NHL players.
Latvia’s roster had just six active NHL players and two were goalies, Merzlikins and Arturs Silovs of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The latter started both ends of back-to-back games Feb. 14-15, earning an upset win against Germany on the front half and losing to Denmark in the second game.
Had Latvia defeated Denmark, its matchup in the playoff qualification round likely would’ve been more favorable than facing one of the tournament’s favorites.
Merzlikins kept Sweden from scoring for nearly 11 minutes to start the game, but bad luck struck at 10:55 when a puck eluded him after a pass to the net-front deflected off Adrian Kempe’s right skate. Latvia should have cleared its zone seconds before the goal, but William Nylander intercepted an exit pass inside the blue line and sent the puck to Joel Eriksson Ek for the high-low feed that hit Kempe in the foot.
Less than a minute later, Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog made it 2-0 at 11:36 by getting a pass from Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond and beating Merzlikins by kicking the puck to his stick for a quick shot over the goalie’s pad.
Sweden increased its lead to 3-0 at 7:36 of the second on another goal that Merzlikins didn’t have much chance of stopping. Penguins star defenseman Erik Karlsson walked the puck into the high slot, spotted Nashville Predators star Filip Forsberg skating toward the net in the right circle and sent a pass that was one-timed into Latvia’s net between the right post and Merzlikins’ outstretched skate.
duards Tralmaks got one back to make it 3-1 with 9:13 left in the second, beating Sweden goalie Jacob Markstrom, but Latvia couldn’t convert on a late power play and went into the second intermission trailing by two goals. Sweden added two more goals in the third against Merzlikins, making it 4-1 at 5:54 on a goal by Mika Zibanejad to cap an odd-man rush and 5-1 on Nylander’s power-play goal with 6:42 left.
In his two games, Merzlikins faced 60 shots against two of the tournament’s most talented teams and allowed nine goals over five periods.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Elvis Merzlikins, Latvia eliminated by Sweden at Milano Cortina 2026
Reporting by Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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