In a nail-biting finish, Maxim Strbak delivered an overtime goal to drive Slovakia to a 5-4 triumph over Kazakhstan at the world junior hockey championships. The Slovaks, with Dalibor Dvorsky and Juraj Pekarcik scoring twice each, led 4-2 with less than five minutes remaining.
The match turned thrilling when Kazakhstan, even with the disadvantage of a 5-minute major on Asanali Sarkenov for cross-checking, netted two short-handed goals in rapid succession. Davlat Nurkenov’s goal kicked off the comeback at 16:37, with Kirill Lyapunov delivering the equalizer a mere 29 seconds before the third-period buzzer.
Despite the defeat, Kazakhstan walked away with their first point of the tournament. Slovakia wrapped up their preliminary round with five points, standing third in Group B and securing a quarterfinal slot. Meanwhile, in Group A, Latvia pushed past Germany with a 4-3 overtime win, gaining their berth in the quarterfinals.
(With inputs from agencies.)