Regenda, Slovakia cruise against Germany in Olympic quarterfinals

MILAN -- The surprising third-seeded Slovaks surged into the semifinals of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 with a 6-2 win against Team Germany at Santagiulia Arena in the first of four quarterfinal-round games Wednesday.

Pavol Regenda had two goals and an assist, Dalibor Dvorsky and Oliver Okuliar each had a goal and an assist, and Samuel Hlavaj made 25 saves to lead Team Slovakia, which has earned the opportunity to play for its first medal in an Olympics involving NHL players.

The semifinals are Friday, with Slovakia's opponent yet to be determined.

The Slovaks, who won the bronze medal in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, are in the semifinals of an Olympics featuring NHL players for the second time. They also made it in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics after defeating Team Sweden 4-3 win in the quarterfinals.

Slovakia lost to Team Canada in the semifinals and to Team Finland in the bronze medal game in Vancouver.

Lukas Reichel had a goal and an assist, and Frederik Tiffels scored for Germany. Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves in his second start in as many days after he made 30 saves in a 5-1 win against Team France in the qualification round Tuesday.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: Germany-Slovakia

Leon Draisaitl had an assist on Reichel's goal to finish the tournament with seven points (two goals, five assists), the most by a German player in an Olympics involving NHL players.

Germany is 0-2 in the quarterfinals of Olympic tournaments involving NHL players. It also lost to Team USA 5-0 in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Regenda, the San Jose Sharks forward, gave Slovakia a 1-0 lead at 18:06 of the first period, scoring on a netfront deflection Erik Cernak's one-timer from the right point that was set up by Martin Fehervary.

Slovakia finished the first period with a 18-5 advantage in shots on goal.

The Slovaks had a scare early in the second period, when Juraj Slafkovsky of the Montreal Canadiens fell awkwardly into the boards after taking a hit. He briefly stayed on the ice before slowly going to the bench.

But Slovakia scored twice in 33 seconds as Slafkovsky sat on the bench holding an ice pack to the back of his neck.

WATCH: Men's Hockey Highlights from the Olympic Winter Games

Milos Kelemen made it 2-0 at 4:01. He won a race to the puck against Lukas Kalble, getting inside position to gain possession low in the left face-off circle. He quickly roofed a backhanded shot to the far side over Grubauer's glove.

Okuliar scored on a breakaway at 4:34 to make it 3-0, causing Germany to use its timeout before the ensuing face-off.

Slovakia kept the pressure on and Dvorsky made it 4-0 at 10:21. He created a 2-on-1 by chipping the puck off the boards between the benches to himself. Dvorsky kept it and beat Grubauer to extend the lead.

Dvorsky has six points (three goals, three assists) in the tournament, the most points by an NHL rookie in a single Olympic tournament.

Reichel scored on a one-timer from Draisaitl to cut Slovakia's lead to 4-1 at 14:59.

The Slovaks regained the four-goal lead 58 seconds into the third period when Regenda scored his second of the game from between the circles to make it 5-1.

Tiffels cut the deficit to 5-2 with a one-timer from the right circle at 9:09 of the third period, but Tomas Tatar scored an empty-net goal off a 3-on-1 rush to make it 6-2 at 16:33.