The Italians raced out to a 2-0 lead and skated to a confident 3-2 win over Japan this afternoon. Matilde Fantin had two goals for the winners while goalie Gabriella Durante stopped 27 of 29 shots to backstop the impressive victory.

The result improbably places Italy in second place of Group B with six points and gives the team a realistic chance of advancing to the quarter-finals.

Both teams have one game remaining in the preliminary round. Japan plays Sweden and the Italians and Germans face each other. Both games are tomorrow.

Coach Eric Bouchard relied heavily on his two superstar defenders. Laura Fortino played an incredible 30:22 while captain Nadia Mattivi was on the ice for 28:42.

"I'm so proud of the group," Mattivi beamed. "Leading the game like this, it's hard mentally. And then when they scored with ten minutes left, it became a mental game. But we showed so much resilience, so much belief. I couldn't be more proud. Right now, we're so locked in and living in our own bubble. We just have to keep doing what we're doing."

"I don't there was a big difference between the skills of the two teams, but the first two goals we allowed is probably the reason we lost today," offered Japan's cpach Yuji Iizuka. "We need to get rid of the stress and fatigue so we can play our best tomorrow."

Prohibitive underdogs coming into the tournament, the Italians came out and took it to Japan, skating well and moving the puck efficiently. They were rewarded, scoring twice in the opening period.

Fantin stole the puck at the Japan blue line and went in alone, drilling a shot to the far side over the glove of Miyuu Masuhara at 12:34. Late in the period, on their first power play, the Italians doubled their lead. This time it was a blast from the top of the faceoff circle by Fantin at 18:51. Again, the shot beat Masuhara over the glove. It was Italy’s first power-play goal of the tournament. 

Japan came out with greater purpose and desperation to start the second. And they got on the board off a nice faceoff play in the Italy end. Rio Noro won the draw cleanly, and Rui Ukita wired a high shot past Durante at 2:48 to bring the Japanese back into the game. 

This was Ukita’s second goal of 2026, marking the third straight Olympics she has scored at least twice.

Japan had a great chance to tie the game later when Akane Shiga cut hard in on goal, but Durante held her ground and made a nice pad save. The play of the period, however, must go to Mattivi. She was the lone Italian back on a one-on-four, yet she managed to get her skate on a pass across to break up a dangerous scoring chance.

The hosts caught a break just 37 seconds into the third and capitalized. Akane Shiga and Ayaka Hitosato collided coming out of their end, and Kristin Della Rovere was right there to claim the puck. She danced in alone and was stopped by Masuhara, but with no one around Della Rovere claimed her own rebound and made no mistake with the second chance. 

The Italians then played a solid period to hold the lead with confidence. Even when an Akane Shiga shot dribbled off Durante and over the goal line, there was no panic, just a determintion to finish the job. Which they did. And now, they are one game away from the playoffs. Incredible.