Slovakia opened an impressive 2-0 lead after one period and skated to an important 4-1 win over Germany this afternoon at Grand Casino Arena. The win evens their record at 1-1 in Group A play while the Germans are winless after two games.

Both teams now have a day off before playing again on Monday. It doesn’t get any easier for Germany, who will play Sweden in the early game, after which the Slovaks will face the host Americans.

Tomas Chrenko led the offence for Slovakia, scoring the team's first three goals. Linemate Adam Nemec added two assists.

"We knew today was going to be an important game, so we just focused on recovery and being prepared," said goalie Michal Pradel, who was playing in his first World Junior Championship game.

"I don't think we played as well as yesterday," offered German defender Carlos Handel. "We need to play better from the start. Slovakia came out and they wanted it more. That's why we lost. Their goalie played really well in the second period, and then we lost our momentum. We just have to play better in the next two games and not take so many penalties. We need to play more 5-on-5."

Slovakia controlled much of the play in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Germans, 19-3. Only fine play from goalie Linus Vieillard kept the score close. Slovakia opened the scoring at 10:33 when Chrenko got his stick on a loose puck in the high slot. He turned and fired, surprising Vieillard with the quick shot.

The Slovaks doubled their lead late in the period on the power play. Nemec made a short pass from the crease area to Chrenko, who snapped a shot home with just 47.3 seconds remaining.

Germany came out flying to start the second, but even though they were the better team they still surrendered the only goal of the period. Pradel, the third goalie last year who didn’t see any action, was fantastic for the Slovaks, turning aside several great German chances by Dustin Willhoft, Elias Pul, and Nick Maul, among others.

"These are the kinds of games you have to still keep your focus," Pradel explained. "It doesn't matter if you have three shots or a lot more. At the end of the game it was also a little bit tough, but it worked out well for us. Last year was a great experience. I learned a lot from the older guys. This year, we have three good goalies, so I'm happy I got to play today. Last year was a bit tough because I had some health issues, so a lot of the time I was just watching the games from my hotel room."

But the team lost its momentum when Lenny Boois took a high-sticking double minor. Just 20 seconds later, the Slovaks converted. Chrenko was looking for linemate Nemec to the back side of the goal. His pass was redirected into the goal by Germany’s own Moritz Kretzschmar, giving Chrenko a natural hat trick.

Germany finally were rewarded midway through the third. Willhoft claimed a loose puck along the left-wing boards and drove hard in on goal, sliding the puck between the pads of Pradel, who was sliding across the goal line. Moments later, Maxin Schafer had an almost identical chance, but this time the goalie took away the space to make the save.

After killing off a late 3-on-5, Germany had a power play and Vieillard on the bench, but the comeback was stifled by a rink-length shot into the empty net by Adam Belusko with 52.9 seconds remaining.