MILANO -- Deutschland defeated.
Leon Draisaitl added another assist to his Olympic tally, but Team Germany's pursuit of a medal at Milano Cortina 2026 came to an end on Wednesday with a 6-2 defeat to Team Slovakia in the quarterfinals at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Slovakia opened the scoring through Pavol Regenda with under two minutes left in the first before adding three more unanswered goals in the second to take a four-goal lead, with Leon Draisaitl picking up an assist on Lukas Reichel's goal that got Germany back in it down 4-1 with 5:01 left in the frame.
Draisaitl was on the ice when Frederik Tiffels notched a power-play goal for Germany in the third to make it 5-2 after Regenda got on the scoresheet for the second time early in the stanza, but an empty-netter from Tomas Tatar in the final four minutes would confirm the end of the Germans' tournament.
Regenda finished with two goals and an assist, Dalibor Dvorsky and Oliver Okuliar each had a goal and an assist, and goaltender Samuel Hlavaj made 25 saves for Slovakia to help them earn their opportunity to continue competing for their first medal at the Olympics with NHL participation.
Draisaitl finished as Germany's leading scorer with two goals and five assists over five games in his Olympic debut, while his Oilers teammate Josh Samanski concluded the tournament with a goal and assist -- all coming in a 5-1 win over Team France in the qualifying round on Tuesday.
