By Amy Tennery and Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Slovakia lost the battle but won the war against Sweden on Saturday, as they clawed their way to the top of Group B on goal differential despite losing to the Nordic powerhouse 5-3, earning a bye into the men’s ice hockey quarter-finals.
In other group action, the United States recovered from a slow start to double up Denmark 6-3, Finland walloped Italy 11-0 and Latvia fought back to edge Germany 4-3 on the fourth day of the tournament.
Slovakia, Sweden and Finland each had two wins and a loss when the dust settled on the tournament’s most competitive group of the preliminary stage, but Slovakia scored in the final minute to ensure they could bypass Tuesday’s qualification round.
The winners of each of the three preliminary groups and the next best overall team automatically advance to the quarter-finals in Milan, while the remaining teams compete in a single-elimination qualification play-off.
Hosts Italy will go into the single-elimination play-offs after going winless through the group stage, while Groups A and C will conclude on Sunday.
SLOVAKIA VICTORIOUS IN DEFEAT
Elias Pettersson scored twice while forwards Joel Eriksson Ek, Adrian Kempe and Lucas Raymond each added goals for Sweden, the pre-tournament favourites to challenge Canada and the United States for the top of the podium.
Eriksson Ek nudged the puck over the line for a short-handed goal in the eighth minute at Santagiulia Arena but Slovakian star forward Juraj Slafkovsky levelled it less than two minutes later with a slapshot from the right wing.
Kempe scored four seconds into a power play midway through the second, putting the puck under the Slovakian goalie’s glove, but defenceman Martin Gernat answered less than three minutes later, sending the puck zipping by the Swedish goaltender’s right skate for the equaliser.
Pettersson made it 3-2 for Sweden with a five-hole shot late in the second and Raymond found Pettersson on the back post eight minutes into the third before burying one in the net himself.
Dalibor Dvorsky’s goal for Slovakia in the final minute of competition gave his side the goal differential upper hand.
Group B ended with bitter disappointment for Italy, as Finland set the tone with three goals in the first 10 minutes.
Carolina Hurricanes’ points leader Sebastian Aho, captain Mikael Granlund, Kaapo Kakko and Joel Kiviranta provided two goals each, and Miro Heiskanen, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia also scored in the most lopsided win of the men’s tournament so far.
DENMARK PUSH UNITED STATES
Fans expected the favoured United States to run up the score against Denmark on the penultimate day of the men’s preliminary stage. But the Danes showed they would not be bossed around in the Group C contest as they went into the locker room for the first intermission up 2-1.
Forward Jack Eichel got to work setting things back on track for the Americans in the second period, where he assisted on Brady Tkachuk’s second goal of the tournament before netting one of his own less than a minute later.
Eichel’s Vegas Golden Knights team mate Noah Hanifin made it 4-2 and, while Denmark’s defenceman Phillip Bruggisser trimmed the score with less than three seconds before the second intermission, the Americans kept them scoreless in the third.
“Give them credit, they played really hard, they were opportunistic,” said Eichel. “No game’s going to be easy, we realize that, and it was good of the group to continue to play our game for 60 minutes.”
The United States play Germany and winless Denmark face Latvia on Sunday in the final two Group C games.
LATVIA HOLDS OFF GERMANY
Latvia twice fell behind on goals from Lukas Reichel and Lukas Kalble, with Dans Locmelis evening the game both times.
Final-period goals by Eduards Tralmaks and Renars Krastenbergs had the Latvians cruising, until Tim Stutzle scored late for Germany.
Down 0-1, Latvia tied it with a power play goal four minutes from the end of the opening period, Locmelis hovering near the post and slamming home Zemgus Girgensons’ pass. Germany took just over a minute to regain the lead through Kalble. Playing with a 5-on-3 advantage, Locmelis equalised again, slamming the puck into the roof of the net, and Latvia went in front through Tralmaks just after killing a penalty. Krastenbergs gave Latvia a two-goal cushion with less than nine minutes remaining but had to hang on in the closing stages when the Germans pulled their goalie for an extra skater and Stutzle scored with over two minutes left.
Latvia wrap up the first round of their Milan campaign on Sunday with a Group C game against Denmark.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, Trevor Stynes, Janina Nuno Rios and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan;Editing by Alison Williams and Bill Berkrot)
Comments