MILAN, Italy — Slovakia lost the battle but won the war against Sweden on Saturday, as it clawed its way to the top of Group B on goal differential despite losing to the Nordic powerhouse 5-3, earning a bye into the men’s ice hockey quarterfinals.

In other group action, the United States recovered from a slow start to double up Denmark 6-3, Finland walloped Italy 11-0 and Latvia fought back to edge Germany 4-3 on the fourth day of the tournament.

Slovakia, Sweden and Finland each had two wins and a loss when the dust settled on the tournament’s most competitive group of the preliminary stage, but Slovakia scored in the final minute to ensure it could bypass Tuesday’s qualification round.

The winners of each of the three preliminary groups and the next best overall team automatically advance to the quarterfinals in Milan, while the remaining teams compete in a single-elimination qualification playoff.

Host Italy will go into the single-elimination playoffs after going winless through the group stage, while Groups A and C will conclude on Sunday.

SLOVAKIA VICTORIOUS IN DEFEAT

Elias Pettersson scored twice while forwards Joel Eriksson Ek, Adrian Kempe and Lucas Raymond each added goals for Sweden, the pre-tournament favorite to challenge Canada and the United States for the top of the podium.

Eriksson Ek nudged the puck over the line for a short-handed goal in the eighth minute at Santagiulia Arena but Slovakian star forward Juraj Slafkovsky leveled it less than two minutes later with a slapshot from the right wing.

Kempe scored four seconds into a power play midway through the second, putting the puck under the Slovakian goalie’s glove, but defenseman Martin Gernat answered less than three minutes later, sending the puck zipping by the Swedish goaltender’s right skate for the equalizer.

Pettersson made it 3-2 for Sweden with a five-hole shot late in the second and Raymond found Pettersson on the back post eight minutes into the third before burying one in the net himself.

Dalibor Dvorsky’s goal for Slovakia in the final minute of competition gave his side the goal differential upper hand.

Group B ended with bitter disappointment for Italy, as Finland set the tone with three goals in the first 10 minutes.

Carolina Hurricanes’ points leader Sebastian Aho, captain Mikael Granlund, Kaapo Kakko and Joel Kiviranta provided two goals each, and Miro Heiskanen, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia also scored in the most lopsided win of the men’s tournament so far.

DENMARK PUSH UNITED STATES

Fans expected the favored United States to run up the score against Denmark on the penultimate day of the men’s preliminary stage. But the Danes showed they would not be bossed around in the Group C contest as they went into the locker room for the first intermission up 2-1.

Forward Jack Eichel got to work setting things back on track for the Americans in the second period, where he assisted on Brady Tkachuk’s second goal of the tournament before netting one of his own less than a minute later.

Eichel’s Vegas Golden Knights teammate Noah Hanifin made it 4-2 and, while Denmark’s defenseman Phillip Bruggisser trimmed the score with less than three seconds before the second intermission, the Americans kept them scoreless in the third.

“Give them credit, they played really hard, they were opportunistic,” said Eichel. “No game’s going to be easy, we realize that, and it was good of the group to continue to play our game for 60 minutes.”

The United States plays Germany and winless Denmark faces Latvia on Sunday in the final two Group C games.

LATVIA HOLDS OFF GERMANY

Latvia twice fell behind on goals from Lukas Reichel and Lukas Kalble, with Dans Locmelis evening the game both times.

Final-period goals by Eduards Tralmaks and Renars Krastenbergs had the Latvians cruising, until Tim Stutzle scored late for Germany.

Down 0-1, Latvia tied it with a power-play goal four minutes from the end of the opening period when Locmelis was hovering near the post and slammed home Zemgus Girgensons’ pass. Germany took just over a minute to regain the lead through Kalble. Playing with a 5-on-3 advantage, Locmelis equalized again, slamming the puck into the roof of the net, and Latvia went in front through Tralmaks just after killing a penalty. Krastenbergs gave Latvia a two-goal cushion with less than nine minutes remaining but had to hang on in the closing stages when the Germans pulled their goalie for an extra skater and Stutzle scored with over two minutes left.

Latvia wraps up the first round of its Milan campaign on Sunday with a Group C game against Denmark.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

Junior guard Josh Hubbard scored 32 points on 12-for-16 shooting and dished out a game-high six assists to lead the most accurate Mississippi State shooting performance of the season in a 90-78 win over host Ole Miss on Saturday night in Oxford.

Mississippi State (12-13, 4-8 Southeastern Conference) had shot better than 50% only four times all season but shot 62.1% (18-for-29) in the first half and finished at a season-best 56.9% (33-for-58) from the field. The Bulldogs also shot 11-for-24 (45.8%) from 3-point range, which tied the team’s season high for long-range makes and was the second-best accuracy from distance.

Hubbard scored 16 of his points in the first half when the Bulldogs built a 19-point lead, 47-28, after 20 minutes and helped them end a run of eight losses in their previous nine games. It was the fifth 30-plus scoring performance of the season for Hubbard, who had 31 points in a home loss to Tennessee on Wednesday.

State jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first five minutes of the game, with Achor Achor scoring the team’s first 11 points and Hubbard dropping a jumper to end the run.

Ole Miss pulled within 24-21 on AJ Storr’s layup with 7:43 left in the half, but State responded with the next seven points, including a Hubbard 3-pointer. The Rebels closed within five, but the Bulldogs finished the half on a 16-2 run with seven more points coming from Hubbard. Ole Miss never pulled closer than 12 points in the second half.

Hubbard was joined in double figure scoring by Achor, who tallied 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting and also grabbed five rebounds. Jayden Epps added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Ole Miss (11-14, 3-9) has lost its last seven games and struggled to find offense aside from Malik Dia and reserve Storr.

Dia tallied 32 points on 11-for-20 shooting and pulled down seven boards. Storr scored 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting while grabbing six rebounds and dishing five assists. No other Rebel topped six points.

–Field Level Media

MILAN, Italy — The United States men’s hockey team has yet to live up to its full potential on a tight timeline to reach the Olympic podium in Milan, but forward Brady Tkachuk assured fans the medal contenders would find their rhythm.

Widely seen as the likeliest challengers to powerhouse Canada, the all-NHL American team overcame Denmark 6-3 in a surprisingly close Group C contest at Santagiulia Arena on Saturday, coming back from a 2-1 deficit after the first period.

The United States, which beat Latvia 5-1 in its Thursday opener, plays Germany while Denmark plays Latvia on Sunday in the final two Group C games.

“It’s one of those quick tournaments that you kind of have to find it quick and I think that’s what’s good about our group, we’re just kind of scratching at it right now and it’s going to work out that we’re going to peak at the right time,” predicted Tkachuk, whose goal early in the second period helped spark the U.S. fight back.

“(We’re) finding chemistry and building off that,” added Tkachuk, who plays for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and is half of one of two sets of brothers on the U.S. Olympic squad.

The contest on Saturday opened with a perplexing miss by U.S. goalie Jeremy Swayman, who lost track of the puck as it slipped by him early in the first period. But the Boston Bruins netminder said he never lost the support of his teammates.

“The confidence didn’t waver – didn’t waver with myself, didn’t waver with anyone on the team. That’s why this is such an elite group,” he told reporters. “I think it’s good to go through adversity. You don’t want to, but it’s good.”

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media