Nico Hischier finally has his marquee moment at the Milan Winter Olympics

The New Jersey Devils rely on Nico Hischier for a lot. He is their top two-way center who creates offense, while also playing a shut-down defensive game against the opposition’s best every night. 

Team Switzerland asks even more of him whenever they have him. As their top forward, there is no Jack Hughes to take pressure off him offensively. At even strength and on the power play, Hischier needs to produce in big moments for the Swiss to have a chance. 

That is exactly what happened on Tuesday when the Swiss took on Italy in the qualifying playoff at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Hischier had one goal and two assists in their 3-0 victory, which sent them into the quarterfinals. 

When Switzerland was up 2-0, Italian goaltender Damian Clara really ramped things up in an attempt to salvage his team's Olympic dreams on home ice. He was giving his team faith, as they were one bounce away from being back in the contest. That is, until Hischier put his team on his back and scored a power play goal to put them ahead by three. From there, it was apparent that the Swiss were going to beat their border rivals.

Devils forward Timo Meier added two assists in the win, including on Hischier's goal. He has had an incredible tournament with seven points in four games played, leading all Swiss skaters and finishing second in the entire tournament behind Connor McDavid.

Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni made 20 saves for the shutout. He has been starting over Akira Schmid, who is a younger player in the NHL, and he is proving why. His international dominance is keeping him in the net.

Nico Hischier dominated against Italy, sending Switzerland to the next round of the 2026 Winter Olympics

Next up for the Swiss is a date with Finland, who had a bye into the quarterfinals as the three-seed. Each team went 2-1 in the group stage, but Finland poured it on Italy on the final day to earn the tiebreaker as the best second-place team.

Switzerland isn't a free win in the tournament like they were years ago. Nico Hischier is a big part of that, and it showed in his dominant quarterfinal game. As the Devils know, the bigger the game, the bigger the effort he gives. If Switzerland beats Finland, they would be guaranteed to eventually play for a medal.

Hischier is sure to see a much more difficult defensive assignment next game, so some of his running mates, including Timo Meier, may need to keep the offensive spark going.

They are sure to be underdogs in this match against Finland, but they knew they were dark horses coming in. Now is their chance to win a quarterfinal game and play for a chance to medal.