Slovakia outlasts Kazakhstan at world juniors

OTTAWA, Ontario — Maxim Strbak scored 2:55 into overtime to lead Slovakia to a 5-4 win over Kazakhstan on Monday at the world junior hockey championship.

Slovakia held a 4-2 lead with less than five minutes remaining in regulation and Kazakh forward Asanali Sarkenov was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking Slovak forward Frantisek Dej.

Kazakhstan scored twice while short-handed, sending the game to overtime. Davlat Nurkenov scored at 16:37 of the third period and Kirill Lyapunov tied it with just 29 seconds left.

Dalibor Dvorsky and Juraj Pekarcik each scored twice for Slovakia, which twice held a three-goal lead. Goaltender Samuel Urban allowed four goals on 17 shots.

Sarkenov and Artur Gross also scored for Kazakhstan. Vladimir Nikitin, a prospect with the Ottawa Senators, made 37 saves, including four in OT, for Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan earned its first point in the tournament after opening with two lopsided losses, moving ahead of last-place Switzerland in Group B. The teams meet Tuesday with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line during the final day of preliminary-round action.

Slovakia finished the preliminary round with five points thanks to a regulation win, an overtime win and two losses. The Slovaks were guaranteed to finish third in Group B and advance to the quarterfinals.

Later Monday, Germany was scheduled to face Latvia in a matchup of teams vying for the last quarterfinal spot in Group A.