Ice hockey-Germany beat France to book Slovakia quarter-final clash

MILAN, Feb 17 : 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 teammate Joshua Samanski for another goal in the third.

Forwards Frederik Tiffels, JJ Peterka and Nico Sturm also scored in the qualification playoff game at Santagiulia Arena.

France were playing without defenceman Pierre Crinon after the French federation suspended him, citing "provocative behaviour" following a fight with Canadian Tom Wilson in Sunday's group-stage defeat by the tournament favourites.

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's goaltender Philipp Grubauer welcomed the switch to lighter rink boards after the International Ice Hockey Federation's mid-tournament adjustment, saying the change made a noticeable difference from his crease.

"Thank God, because I'm colourblind," he said with a smile. "It wasn't that easy sometimes, so it's a good change by them, obviously."

Looking ahead,