Germany beats France to reach men's hockey quarterfinals

- Germany swatted aside France 5-1 to reach the Olympic men's ice hockey quarter-finals on Tuesday, setting up a meeting with surprise Group ‌B winners Slovakia in the final eight.

Captain Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring in the first period and set up his Edmonton Oilers team ​mate Joshua Samanski for another goal in ​the third.

Forwards Frederik Tiffels, JJ Peterka and Nico Sturm also scored in the qualification play-off ​game at Santagiulia arena. France were playing without ⁠defenceman Pierre Crinon ⁠after the French federation ‌suspended him, citing "provocative behavior" after a fight with Canadian Tom Wilson in Sunday's group-stage defeat to the tournament favorites.

Draisaitl rifled one in on the power ⁠play in the fourth minute, his second goal of the tournament, before Tiffels flipped the puck off the goalie's mask ‌and into the near corner in a solo effort.

Peterka flipped in an easy wrist shot with less than two minutes left before the intermission.

A bit of ​luck went France's way when captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ricocheted a shot ⁠off a German skate and into the net early in ⁠the second and goalie Antoine Keller made a couple ⁠of ⁠nice glove saves to ​keep France in the fight.

But the Germans put it completely ​out of reach ⁠when Draisaitl fed the puck perfectly to Samanski in the slot and Sturm tapped one into the empty net in the final minute. Germany play Slovakia on Wednesday in the ⁠quarterfinals.

Switzerland beat Italy 3-0 to reach the quarterfinals, and will face defending champions Finland ​in the last eight.

Philipp ​Kurashev and Roman Josi put the Swiss two goals up ​by the 11th minute ⁠with Nico ⁠Hischier scoring ‌in the final period as Italian goaltender Damian Clara kept the scoreline