– Germany swatted aside France 5-1 to reach the Olympic men’s ice hockey quarter-finals on Tuesday, setting up a meeting with surprise Group B winners Slovakia in the final eight.
Captain Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring in the first period and set up his Edmonton Oilers team mate Joshua Samanski for another goal in the third.
Forwards Frederik Tiffels, JJ Peterka and Nico Sturm also scored in the qualification play-off game at Santagiulia arena. France were playing without defenceman Pierre Crinon after the French federation suspended him, citing “provocative behavior” after a fight with Canadian Tom Wilson in Sunday’s group-stage defeat to the tournament favorites.
Draisaitl rifled one in on the power play in the fourth minute, his second goal of the tournament, before Tiffels flipped the puck off the goalie’s mask and into the near corner in a solo effort.
Peterka flipped in an easy wrist shot with less than two minutes left before the intermission.
A bit of luck went France’s way when captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ricocheted a shot off a German skate and into the net early in the second and goalie Antoine Keller made a couple of nice glove saves to keep France in the fight.
But the Germans put it completely out of reach when Draisaitl fed the puck perfectly to Samanski in the slot and Sturm tapped one into the empty net in the final minute. Germany play Slovakia on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
Switzerland beat Italy 3-0 to reach the quarterfinals, and will face defending champions Finland in the last eight.
Philipp Kurashev and Roman Josi put the Swiss two goals up by the 11th minute with Nico Hischier scoring in the final period as Italian goaltender Damian Clara kept the scoreline down, making 48 saves across the 60 minutes.
Switzerland were without Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala, who suffered a tournament-ending leg injury in Friday’s 5-1 loss to Canada, but had enough NHL talent to see off the hosts who exit the tournament without a win in their four games.
Germany thrashed France 5-1 across Milan at Santagiulia Arena and will meet Slovakia in Wednesday’s quarter-finals.
The Czech Republic play Denmark and Sweden face Latvia in Tuesday’s other playoff games.
