Olympic Hockey Day 7 Recap: Slovakia Cruises as Canada, Finland, USA All Win in OT to Advance to Final Four

The quarter-final round came and went, leaving us with the final four teams, all of which have their eyes set on taking home a gold medal. Even after a day of rest, Slovakia came out hot, solidifying their spot in the final four while sending Germany and Leon Draisaitl home. Czechia gave Canada a run for their money, but Mitch Marner scored the overtime winner and solidified himself as an Olympic hero.

That wasn't the only game to go past regulation, as Finland beat Switzerland in overtime after having trailed 2-0 in the third period. The final game between the USA and Sweden wasn't any less dramatic, as Mika Zibanejad tied the game in the final two minutes, which set the game to overtime, but Team USA rallied and took the game in overtime.

Slovakia vs. Germany

• Through 10 minutes of play, the game remained scoreless, but Slovakia had outshot Germany 10-2 and was doing a better job of maintaining control of the puck. Slovakia also had the first power play opportunity of the game, but Germany's penalty killer team held strong, including a good save from Philipp Grubauer. Despite the deadlock, Slovakia appeared like the stronger team earlier on in the game.
• The game remained scoreless after 18 minutes of play, but all that changed on a goal from Pavol Regenda. Eric Cernak took the initial shot, and Regenda, screening Grubauer, got a piece of the puck before it found the back of the net. Slovakia took their 1-0 lead into the first intermission after outshooting Germany 17-5.
• Juraj Slafkovský took a big hit into the boards from multiple players from Team Germany. Play stopped before Slafkovský skated off on his own power, but he later returned to play.
• Slovakia answered the hit against their star player with a goal from Milos Kelemen, which gave his team a 2-0 lead. Regenda chipped the puck out of the zone, and Kelemen made a nice move to get the puck and showed off his nice hands to beat Grubauer.

• 33 seconds later, Slovakia scored again; this time Oliver Okuliar scored for Slovakia. It was another breakaway chance as Okuliar was one-on-one with the German net minder, and with momentum on their side, Slovakia took a 3-0 lead. Following the goal, Team Germany called a timeout to regroup.
• Slovakia had struck iron in the second period, as Daibor Dvorsky extended Slovakia's lead to 4-0 at about the halfway point of the game. Dvorsky made a smart pass off the boards to himself, which set up a two-on-one. Dvorsky elected to take the shot, which proved to be the right choice.
• Lukas Reichel answered the call for Germany with about five minutes left in the second. Leon Draisaitl stole the puck in the neutral zone off a weak pass from Milos Keleman. Draisaitl carried the puck over the blue line before he passed it to Reichel, who cut Slovakia's lead to 4-1. The two nearly combined for another goal in the final minutes of the period, but Samuel Hlavaj made the save.
• Less than one minute into the period, Regenda scored his second goal of the game and extended Slovakia's lead to 5-1. Regenda pounced on the rebound and beat Grubauer, who had not had his best day. Germany had a lot of work to do if they were going to win.
• On a power play opportunity in the third period, Germany scored their second goal of the game. Frederik Tiffels scored Germany's second goal off a cross-ice feed from Reichel. Hlavaj got a piece of the puck, but it wasn't enough to keep it out of the net. The power play goal gave Reichel his second point of the game, but Germany still trailed 5-2.

• With the net empty, Tomas Tatar scored Slovakia's sixth and final goal and put the game away. Any chance Germany had of making a late comeback was put to rest by Slovakia's captain.

Canada vs. Czechia

• This was the second matchup between the two teams after having played each other earlier in the tournament. Team Canada won that game 5-0 with Jordan Binnington in net.

• It was none other than Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini who combined for Canada's first goal of the game. McDavid carried the puck into the offensive zone before he made a drop pass to Celebrini, who shot the puck between David Pastrnak's legs and scored the game's opening goal.

• It didn't take long for Czechia to respond as Lukas Sedlak tied the game at 1-1. Radko Gudas stole the puck in the neutral zone off a poor pass from the Canadiens. From there, he maintained possession past the blue line. From there, Roman Cervenka and Sedlak played tic-tac-toe before he put it behind Jordan Binnington.

• Czechia was not done scoring, as their star David Pastrnak cashed in on the man advantage to give his team a 2-1 lead. Pastrnak ripped the one-timer off the feed from Filip Horonek, and for the first time in their two matchups, Czechia had the lead over Canada.

• About five minutes into the second period, Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby took a hit from Gudas and Martin Necas and was slow to get up. Crosby left the bench and went into the locker room. In his absence, Celebrini stepped into Crosby's spot on the power play. Crosby never returned to the game.
• Not long after Crosby went into the locker room, Pastranak took a stick to the face off a follow-through from Celebrini's shot. Pastranak was bleeding but remained in the game after the bleeding stopped.
• Czechia net minder Lukas Dostal played strong throughout the game, especially after he gave up the early goal. Canada has plenty of scoring talent, but Dostal's strong performance kept his team strong. Through two periods, he had made 26 of 28 possible saves.
• With just under eight minutes in the second, Nathan MacKinnon cashed in on the power play to tie the game at 2-2. Celebrini dished the puck to Connor McDavid behind the net, who fed it to MacKinnon waiting on the other side, who scored a crucial goal in Crosby's absence.
• Through 12 minutes of play in the third period, neither team found the go-ahead goal as time wound down in regulation. Tomas Hertl blocked the puck in the defensive zone, which set up a breakaway from Martin Necas. Necas then passed the puck back to Ondrej Palat, who beat Binnington under the blocker to give his country a 3-2 lead.

• After he missed out on a prime scoring opportunity earlier in the game, Nick Suzuki tied the game for Canada with 3:27 left to play. Suzuki fought hard on the dump-in to allow Canada to establish possession. He then battled to get in front of Dostal and was able to get a piece of Devon Toews' shot and tied the game at 3-3.
• Time expired in regulation, and the game went to overtime. At this stage of the tournament, overtime consists of a 10-minute 3-on-3 overtime period that would become a 5-player shootout if the overtime period remained scoreless.
• Both teams traded chances in overtime, but just under two minutes into overtime, Mitch Marner would become a Canadian hero, scoring the game-winning goal. Marner carried the puck into the zone, beat the three Czechia skaters, and his backhand shot beat Dostal, who had played so strong, but he couldn't stop Marner's shot. Mitch Marner, who received so much criticism for not showing up in big moments, scored the biggest goal of the tournament up until this point.

Finland vs. Switzerland

• About four minutes into the game, Switzerland forward Pius Suter blocked a shot on Finland's first power play of the game. After the tough play, Suter slowly skated off the ice and struggled to put pressure on one of his legs. He did return to the game.
• Through seven minutes of play, Switzerland had recorded the only shot on goal of the game. Each side had brought their A game on defense and made life easier for the goalies in such an important game. The period ended with only nine shots on goal.
• Switzerland opened the scoring with just under six minutes left in the first period. Finland goaltender Juuse Saros misplayed the puck and was never able to settle back into the net before Damien Riat scored his second goal of the tournament.
• Less than 90 seconds later, Switzerland extended their lead to 2-0. Nino Niederreiter came off the bench when he sneaked past the Finnish skaters before receiving the pass from Suter. Nederiater's shot made it through traffic, and after a strong start to the tournament, Sarros had now given up two goals on five shots.

• Neither team scored a goal during the second period of play. Both sides got more shots on goal, but the goalies fought hard to help their team advance to the final four. Through two periods, Switzerland goalie Leonardo Genoni pitched a shutout and kept out all 20 shots on goal.
• Finland's play massively picked up in the second period. Finland only had four shots on goal in the first period but quadrupled that number the following period. Finland continued to get closer to their first goal of the game but needed to find it soon, having trailed by two entering the third period.
• At the halfway point of the third period, Finland was still in search of their first goal. As the back half of the period wound down, Finland became more desperate in their play, but Genoni kept the back of his net clean.
• That changed once Sebastian Aho ripped a shot from inside the slot and beat Genoni under the blocker. Eetu Luostarinen and Miro Heiskanen got credited for the assists, and with about six minutes left, Switzerland led 2-1 over Finland.
• In the minutes that followed Aho's goal, Finland continued to throw pucks at Genoni in an effort to tie the game. Genoni held strong, and with 2:27 left to play, Finland called a timeout and pulled Saros. With the empty net, Miro Heiskanen tied the game with 1:12 left to play in regulation. Heiskanen's shot deflected off Jonas Siegenthaler's stick, which set the game up for overtime.
• This overtime period went much deeper than the one between Canada and Czechia. For Finland, the Olympic hero ended up being Atturi Lehkonen, who scored on the breakaway. Anton Lundell was able to fit the puck between two Switzerland players to hit Lehkonen in stride and steal the game for Finland after trailing 2-0.

USA vs. Sweden

• Team Sweden defenseman Victor Hedman dressed for the game and was on the bench but did not play. Head coach Sam Hallman had stated he suffered an injury in warm-ups and did not play against the USA.
• The United States controlled play early on with the game's first six shots on goal. An early power play opportunity helped inflate those numbers, but Sweden then answered with the next six shots on goal and balanced things out. At the ten-minute mark of the first period, neither team had put a shot past the opposing tender.
• The first period had come and gone without a goal, with each team having registered 10 shots on goal. Both sides played a physical first period as they aimed to establish control of the game. Neither side shied away from the other team's physicality, which made a scoreless first still exciting.
• Dylan Larken started the scoring with just under nine minutes to play in the second period. Sweden goaltender Jacob Markstrom had finally been beaten on the USA's 20th shot on goal. Larkin won the faceoff, and then Quinn Hughes passed it to his brother Jack Hughes. Jack Hughes pulled the trigger, and Larkin tipped the puck, which bounced into the net.

• USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck came up with what could be the save of the tournament on Lucas Raymond, denying him of what looked like a guaranteed goal. Through two periods, Hellebuyck had made 19 saves and kept his net clean. Martstrom also had played admirably through 40 minutes with a save percentage of .967.
• At the start of the third period, Jesper Bratt got his first shift of the period after he sat on the bench for the first two periods. Hallman had received criticism for the duration of the tournament for how he had been deploying his players.
• Markstrom left his net with 1:31 to play, and it was Rangers forward Mika Zibaenjad who tied the game with his signature one-timer. For the first time, Hellebuyck had been beaten. Lucas Raymond made a sneaky cross-ice pass to Zibanejad, who finished the play to tie the game at 1-1.

• Both goaltenders played amazingly in regulation, with Hellebuyck having stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced and Markstrom having saved 33 of the 34 shots he had faced. Without their high level of play, their respective teams would not have made it to overtime.
• USA and Sweden marked the third overtime game of the day. This time around, Quinn Hughes was the overtime hero as he scored for Team USA. While on the ice with Austin Matthews and Matt Boldy, the three established possession in the offensive zone. Hughes did a great job of controlling the puck and put it past Markstrom, which sent the USA to the final four.

The final four matchups, which begin on February 20th, are now set. Canada will take on Finland, and the USA will take on Slovakia.