Czech Republic survives Slovenia with a scare

Slovenia came out good and got an early power play on which they created some good chances but a lost puck gave Petr Koukal and he made no mistake and finished it of with a quick deke and scored under Kristan. Just seconds later Robert Sabolic tied the game when he from a tight angle made no mistake on the open net after picking up a rebound.

1-1 behind Pavelec. Photo: Michal Eger

It was a lot at stake for the Czechs and you could tell, the Czechs having big problems in the first period allowing Slovenia to several chances and 12 minutes into the period Rok Ticar gave Slovenia the lead when he went in on goal and got the puck pass Pavelec who had came up with a couple of big saves earlier.

"We played a quality opponent, not on paper but on ice", Czech head coach Alois Hadamczik said about Slovenia. "It was very hard for the players as they must win this game. But today we played with high concentration", he added about the game and also praising his goalie, "Ondrej Pavelec made some big saves for us and made a great performance".

In the last minute of the period Slovenia had two incredible chances first by Ticar who had an open net but didn't get the puck under control, but instead he managed to get the puck to Ziga Jeglic who was all alone with Pavelec but the Jets goalie came up with another great save. The play was turned over and at the other end Jiri Hudler tied the game with his fourth goal of the tournament.

In the second period the Czechs went back more to basic trying to play a more tight defense. They took over the game and put a lot of pressure against Slovenia's net but they didn't play with enough skill to create the really good scoring chances and the second period was scoreless.

Slovenia had some good chances at an early power play but Pavelec continued to play well. After six minutes the Czechs called a time out when they got the chance on the power play and it paid off as Zbynek Michalek scored only 13 seconds into the power play with a shot through traffic. Good coaching by Hadamczik at that situation.

The 3-2 puck behind Kristan. Photo: Michal Eger

And with four minutes remaining of the game the Czechs sealed the victory when Jiri Novotny scored another power play marker from close range in front of Kristan. At the end the Czechs showed they were the better but you have to be a bit sorry for the Slovenian's who made a good performance and were close to a surprise.

Slovenia's head coach Matjaz Kopitar was clearly unhappy with another hard loss "It was our fourth hard loss. We played good and had a lot of chances but we have to score to win".

Slovenia now needs at least four points from the last two games against Canada and Sweden to avoid relegation. A very hard task for the Slovenian team. Czech Republic still needs more points to reach the quarter finals. "We have a very tough game against the best team here (Canada) and we need a result", Jakub Voracek said about the next game for the Czechs.

At the end the Czech fans could celebrate. Photo: Michal Eger

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