After a couple of weeks of high-octane hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the men’s tournament wraps up on Sunday with a matchup between bitter rivals. The United States and Canada battle for a gold medal in the morning (for North American viewers), pitting the two best teams in the world against each other with everything on the line.
In such a high-stakes contest, both sides are certain to come out swinging. If you’re wondering who’ll break the ice and score the first goal in this game, we’ve got you covered!
We’re helping you prepare your betting cards for USA vs. Canada in the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game. Here, we’ll take a look at the top first goalscorer pick for both teams in the prop bet market on DraftKings Sportsbook
Who will score the first goal in USA vs. Canada?
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Canada is a -1.5 favorite on the puck line with -125 odds to win on the Moneyline. The USA holds +105 odds of an outright upset with the game total set at 5.5 combined goals.
As a quick disclaimer, the first goalscorer prop market can be pretty tough to predict — after all, only one player can win it, unlike in the anytime goalscorer market. This volatility leads to longer odds, with lines set at +850 and beyond in this game. As a result, the potential payout if your pick does hit looks quite hefty in a lot of cases, making these a long-shot bet to sprinkle when playing prop markets. Will you hit them often? Probably not, but they sure are a fun one to chase, especially when they do cash.
Matt Boldy (+2200)
I wrote about Matt Boldy as an anytime goalscorer in a companion article to this one, but I’m happy to run things back one more time and take him to record the first goal of this game. Here’s a little snippet for some background info:
His 18 SOG rank second on the roster, so he’s clearly not afraid to let the puck fly. Of course, the sample size here in Olympic play remains quite small, but the Minnesota Wild star has produced at an elite level in NHL play this season. He’s scored 32 goals across 52 games, tying him for third-most among skaters in the league while also putting an impressive 18.5% of his attempts in the back of the net. Shot volume and finishing ability make Boldy a very interesting play in this prop bet market with +425 odds of an anytime goal.
Here’s the fun part with this pick. Boldy’s odds to score the first goal of the game come in at +2200. Yes, he’s rather buried down the list of star names available in this market, but he’s seeing a high volume of chances, many of which are coming from dangerous areas. Out of his 18 SOG so far, 12 of Boldy’s attempts have come from the slot, tied with linemate Auston Matthews for the most on Team USA. With plenty of high-danger chances and some additional volume even beyond those, the numbers back up the 24-year-old as a top option in the first goalscorer market.
Macklin Celebrini or Nathan MacKinnon (+900 each)
Picks so nice, I wrote ’em twice! I couldn’t make up my mind between Macklin Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon as the first goalscorer in the event Canada nets the opener, so I’m putting them both on here and you can choose to sprinkle one or both.
MacKinnon needs no introduction. The Colorado Avalanche superstar is the second-best player on the planet at worst and leads the NHL in goals this season with 40 across 55 games. That’s simply absurd. In this tournament, he’s potted four shots to tie for the second-most of any skater in the entire field. With 17 SOG as the star of the second line, he’s hitting his attempts at an incredibly efficient rate (23.53%) and has played a major role as expected for the Canadian side.
However, he’s not even the leading goalscorer on his own team in these Winter Games. Macklin Celebrini, the 19-year-old San Jose Sharks talent, paces all players in Milan with five goals and is alone at the top of the leaderboard. Sure, he’s benefitting from playing on a line with Connor McDavid, who is probably the best hockey player in the world, but there’s no doubt Celebrini is holding his own. His 22 SOG are the second-most among Canadian skaters and he’s connected on 22.73% of those chances.
MacKinnon and Macklin are probably the two best bets you can make for a first goalscorer from Team Canada, and they have identical odds. Between these couple of Macks cutting it up on the ice, you can pick your poison between the pair.
