Quinn Hughes reacts to overtime goal to lift Team USA to Olympic Semifinals

Thanks to a magical overtime winner from defenseman Quinn Hughes, Team USA is moving on to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Semifinals.

Hughes finished with 27:31 TOI over Sweden in the quarterfinals, and also notably would win the game for the U.S. in overtime at the 63:27 mark. No. 2 USA now moves on to face off against No. 3 Slovakia in the Feb. 20 semifinal at 3:10 p.m. EST at the Milano Santagiulia Arena. Hughes has now also earned at least one point in every single game the U.S. has played.

Mike Zibanejad of Team Sweden was who forced the Feb. 18 matchup into OT, scoring his third goal of the tournament to tie things up at 1-1 with only 1:31 remaining in the third period.

Postgame after Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" rang out throughout Italy, Hughes said to the media that he is looking forward to continuing the 2026 Winter Olympics with the rest of the U.S. roster.

"Yeah, just a relief" Hughes said of his OT goal to NBC News after the conclusion of play over the Swedes. "Just really enjoying being here with this group and the guys and I'm trying to extend it as long as I can ... It's special, I love the U.S. and it's the greatest country in the world. I'm happy to represent here with these guys and that's really special."

Quinn Hughes Continues Dominance in Ongoing Winter Olympics

Team USA previously opened the scoring over the Swedes with a goal at the 31:03 minute mark. Dylan Larkin scored on a redirect from Quinn's younger brother of Jack Hughes, who was previously assisted by Quinn himself. 

Quinn Hughes spoke with @NBCNews immediately after scoring the OT game-winner against Sweden in the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/7SwdPl15Xk

The Americans were previously winless in the last eight games of the series versus Sweden — the two teams had met 15 prior times in the Olympics, but never in the quarterfinals, which was the case for Milano Cortina. 

Prior to the Milano Cortina Games, the most recent time the U.S. faced off against Sweden was on Feb. 19, 2006 — a 1-2 loss for the U.S. in pool play.

Quinn has additionally led the Americans in ice time. Against the Swedes in the quarterfinals his previously mentioned 27:31 TOI meant he had the most time on ice in the matchup from both teams.

The U.S. has an all-time 2-2 record in Olympic Semifinals. Team USA has faced three different teams (Russia, Finland and Canada) in its last three semifinal appearances at the Olympic Winter Games.