MILAN (AP) — David Kampf and Roman Cervenka scored 69 seconds apart in the second period and Czechia beat Denmark 3-2 on Tuesday to advance to a quarterfinal showdown with Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Czechia gets a second shot at the tournament favorite after losing to Canada 5-0 last week in their opener. They play on Wednesday.
Martin Necas also scored for the Czechs in a busy second period when the Colorado Avalanche forward one-timed a slap shot past goalie Frederik Andersen on a power play to open the scoring.
Denmark tied it at 1-1 on Alexander True’s goal at 29:02, but Kampf quickly put the Czechs back in front and Cervenka’s goal 69 seconds later made it 3-1. The 40-year-old Cervenka snapped a wrist shot into the top corner over Andersen’s glove.
Nick Olesen’s power-play goal closed the gap before the end of the second.
The Czechs killed off two third period penalties, and goalie Lukas Dostal saved two shots from Oliver Bjorkstrand with less than 25 second left.
“We knew it’s going to be a challenge, and it was,” Czechia winger Ondrej Palat said. “They’re a hard team to play against. They don’t give you much. We won, so big win for us. Joy and relief.”
Denmark’s True summed up his side’s mood: “Kind of disappointing feeling right now, but I think we all battled hard.”
Later, Sweden faces Latvia to determine who will play the United States in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Leon Draisaitl and JJ Peterka scored in a three-goal first period and Germany beat France 5-1 to set up a quarterfinal game against Slovakia.
Frederik Tiffels added another when he scored unassisted from a tight angle by snapping a shot off the right side of Julian Junca’s mask and into the net in a dominant opening period for the Germans.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had given away the puck on Tiffels’ goal but the France captain scored in the second period by throwing the puck into the crease, where it hit defenseman Moritz Muller and got past goalie Philipp Grubauer.
Joshua Samanski scored a power-play goal in the third and Nico Sturm added an empty-netter for Germany.
The Germans will face Slovakia on Wednesday.
Draisaitl, who plays for the Edmonton Oilers, opened the scoring with a power-play goal 3:40 into the game on a low wrist shot after taking a pass from Samanski.
After Tiffels made it 2-0, Utah Mammoth winger Peterka was left alone in the slot and lifted a backhander over Junca after receiving Tim Stutzle’s pass from the corner.
Junca, who made 10 saves, was pulled after the first period and replaced for the start of the second by Antoine Keller.
France lost all four of its Olympic games.
Draisaitl was already on the minds of Slovakia ahead of the quarterfinals.
“Everybody knows he’s one of the best players in the league and worldwide, obviously,” Slovakia defenseman Martin Fehervary said of the Germany captain. “And they got also a couple really good players like Stutzle and Peterka and (Moritz) Seider. But we’ve got to focus on ourselves.”
Switzerland beat Italy 3-0, outshooting the host country 51-20.
New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists. Philipp Kurashev and Roman Josi had the other Swiss goals.
Switzerland next faces Finland.
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