Slovenia Pulls Off Major Upset in 3-2 Win Over United States

For the first time in hockey history, Slovenia has beaten the United States in an international hockey match by a comeback score of 3-2 in overtime at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Slovenia had lost all five meetings between the two teams in international play prior to the contest, including a 5-1 loss at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. The game on Wednesday, however, gave Slovenia a renewed hope with the Americans playing without any NHLers, evening the playing field a slight bit more than usual.

The Americans looked good out of the gate, tallying an 11-3 shot advantage in the first period of the battle. Their 11th shot would be the most important when at 17:44, former New Jersey Devils forward Brian O'Neill would score his first goal in international competition after sending a wrist shot past Gasper Kroselj following a pass from Garrett Roe, putting USA up by a goal.

A year removed from winning a gold medal with the United States World Junior team, Jordan Greenway would double up his team's lead to make it 2-0 in the second. At 12:57, Greenway would capitalize on Brian O'Neill's shot, knocking the puck past the left pad of Kroselj to make it 2-0 for the favoured Americans.

Slovenia had a dominant period, showing they truly wanted to win the game. Before the third-period was five minutes old, Blaz Gregorc scored his first Olympic goal after shooting from an open lane, mostly unchallenged. His shot would beat Ryan Zapolski blocker side, using a screen in front to create havoc.

With under two minutes left to go, former Detroit Red Wings forward Jan Mursak tied the game up at two apiece to force overtime after taking the puck in front of the net and spinning around without any real challenge from the American blueliners, beating Zapolski glove side to make it 2-2.

Nobody expected Slovenia to come away with the win, but 38 seconds into overtime, that's exactly what happened. Mursak would catch the Americans sleeping in their own zone, standing all alone in front of the net. He would receive a pass from Gregorc in the slot before jamming one under the right pad of Zapolski, scoring a shocking game-winning goal to give Slovenia their biggest victory in international hockey.

The win was just the third for Slovenia, who pulled off a big 3-1 win over Slovakia back in 2014. They'll meet up with Russia, a team that struggled against Slovakia on Wednesday, at 16:40 local time on Friday afternoon in their second game of the tournament, with the Americans meeting up with Slovakia in hopes of securing their first win.

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