The quarterfinals are upon us. All teams were fighting for a chance to play in a medal game at the Olympics. There was a lot at stake and a lot of incredible hockey played. Here’s how the day unfolded.
Slovakia vs 
Germany
Slovakia was an unlikely winner of Group B, which included both Finland and Sweden. But they played some very good hockey to earn the top spot and a pretty favourable quarterfinal game against Germany — and they would continue their strong play here.
Slovakia got the game’s first goal late in the opening period. Pavel Regenda tipped home a point shot to give the Slovaks the lead heading into the second.
They extended their lead to three early in the middle frame with two goals just 33 seconds apart from Milos Kelemen and Oliver Okuliar.
At the midway point of the period, the Slovaks were gifted a two-on-one after a bad pinch from a German defender. Dalibor Dvorsky elected to shoot and roofed a shot past the German netminder to extend the lead to four.
Germany’s Lukas Reichel got one back before the period was over, giving the Germans a little bit of life heading into the third — but they still had quite a mountain to climb.
Any hope of a comeback was quickly snuffed out as Pavel Regenda scored his second of the game just 58 seconds into the third to make it 5-1 and put the game out of reach.
Both teams traded late goals to create a final score of 6-2 as Slovakia advanced to the semifinals.
Flames forward Martin Pospisil recorded his first point of the Olympics with an assist on Regenda’s third-period goal. He also finished with three shots on net and a plus-two rating over 11 1/2 minutes of ice time — easily
his best game of the tournament so far.
Canada vs 
Czechia
Oh boy. This was a stressful game — and far too much stress to be dealing with in the morning.
It was a rematch from the opening game between Canada and Czechia. That contest was a dominant 5-0 win for the Canadians, but today’s game was far from a runaway. Czechia seems to have Canada’s number in elimination games, knocking them out in recent World Juniors. Their senior team had the same idea — and man, it was a battle.
Canada got off to a quick start with Macklin Celebrini continuing his outstanding tournament by scoring his fifth goal off a nice pass from Connor McDavid.
But for the first time this tournament, Canada faced some adversity.
Lucas Sedlak tied the game at one and, late in the frame on a Czech power play, David Pastrnak rifled a one-timer top shelf to take the lead. It marked the first time Canada had trailed at the Olympics since 2010. Czechia took that lead into the second period.
The middle frame started quietly, but Sidney Crosby became a target for Czechia as they roughed him up at every opportunity. After a couple of hits from Radko Gudas, Crosby appeared to be in serious discomfort and was forced to leave the game — a massive blow to Canada.
That seemed to awaken something in the Canadians, who controlled the rest of the period. With momentum already in their favour, they got a power play — and Nathan MacKinnon wired a wrist shot past Lukas Dostal to tie the game.
Canada kept buzzing. First, Cale Makar hit the post, then Nick Suzuki rang one off iron with the net wide open. Another late power play went unconverted, sending the game to the third tied at two.
With eight minutes left, disaster struck. The Czechs broke up the ice on an odd-man rush and the puck ended up on the stick of Ondrej Palat, who beat Jordan Binnington to take the lead.
Unnoticed at the time, Czechia had six men on the ice, which disrupted Canada’s defensive coverage. It went completely uncalled — but imagine if that goal had been overturned and a penalty assessed.
The next few minutes saw Canada struggle to generate offence as Czechia clogged the neutral zone and broke up passes.
Then, with just under four minutes to play, Nick Suzuki kept possession instead of dumping the puck in for a change. He worked it back to Devon Toews, whose shot was headed wide — but Suzuki, positioned in front, got his stick on it to tip the puck five-hole past Dostal and tie the game at three.
Before regulation ended, Czechia had a clean breakaway, but Binnington made his biggest save of the game to preserve the tie and send it to overtime.
In OT, Czechia had the first Grade-A chance, but Binnington came out to challenge and made another huge stop.
Moments later, Celebrini dropped the puck back for Mitch Marner. Marner initially looked to pass but spotted a seam, drove in and roofed a backhand past Dostal to win it for Canada.
Canada battled through and never gave up, escaping with a win despite losing their captain midway through the game. They now look ahead to the semifinals, guaranteed to play for a medal — though you know they only have one colour in mind.
Finland vs 
Switzerland
Another absolute battle — crazy that we’re getting games like this in the quarterfinals.
The first period was tightly contested, but Switzerland struck first. A terrible giveaway behind the net from Finnish goalie Juuse Saros handed the puck to Ken Jäger, who found Damien Riat in front of a wide-open net.
Just over a minute later, a snapshot from the point by Nino Niederreiter beat Saros cleanly to make it 2-0.
Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni continued his superb play in the second. Already with two shutouts at the Olympics — including the quarterfinal play-in — he turned aside all 16 Finnish shots in the frame to preserve the lead heading into the third.
Finland controlled much of the third, finally breaking through just past the midway mark when Sebastian Aho beat Genoni low blocker side.
Team captain Mikael Granlund later hit the crossbar and was robbed on a great save by Genoni.
Late, with the extra attacker on, Miro Heiskanen fired a shot toward the net that deflected off a Swiss defender’s stick and in to tie the game — sending the second game of the day to overtime.
Just past the three-minute mark in OT, Artturi Lehkonen snuck behind the Swiss defence. Anton Lundell found him with a pass to send him in alone, and Lehkonen roofed it past Genoni to complete the comeback and send Finland to the semifinals.
A disappointing end for Switzerland after such a strong tournament.
United States vs 
Sweden
On paper, the toughest quarterfinal match-up of the day. Both teams are capable of winning gold — but one wouldn’t even get a chance to play for a medal.
The first period was cautious, with both teams focused on getting the puck out of their own zone by any means necessary. Scoring chances were limited and the period ended scoreless, with shots even at 10-10.
The second period was much the same until the United States finally broke through. Dylan Larkin tipped home a point shot to make it 1-0.
That score held into the third, leaving Sweden needing a comeback.
With under two minutes to play, the Swedes kicked it into another gear. Adrian Kempe rang a shot off the post before Lucas Raymond found Mika Zibanejad for a one-timer that squeaked past Connor Hellebuyck to tie the game and send it to overtime.
In OT, the United States controlled the chances, but Jacob Markstrom made several key saves to keep Sweden alive.
Then Quinn Hughes took over. The dynamic defenceman walked into the high slot and wired a shot past Markstrom to end the comeback and send the United States to the semifinals.
What a day of hockey.
Semi-final match-ups (Feb. 20)
Canada vs
Finland – 8:40 a.m. MT
Slovakia vs
United States – 1:10 p.m. MT
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Jacob Battaglia
Nathan Aspinall
: Sportsnet |