By Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Switzerland beat Italy 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament at Milano Rho arena on Tuesday 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 down, making 48 saves across the 60 minutes.
“I thought we got off to a good start,” Josi said.
“Even in the second period I thought we had some good chances and kind of didn’t execute well in front of the net, and their goalie played great too.”
Switzerland were without Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala, who suffered a tournament-ending leg injury in Friday’s 5-1 loss to Canada, but they had enough NHL talent to see off the hosts who exit the tournament without a win in their four games.
“We know Finland is a great team,” Kurashev said. “And now we have to take tonight to prepare mentally, physically, and right back at it. So I think we’ll be ready for it.”
Italy’s Matt Bradley, who scored two tournament goals, went crashing into the boards behind the Swiss goal after 20 seconds and was led down the tunnel for treatment, but returned to the ice later in the game.
Less than a minute later Switzerland took the lead with Kurashev’s rebound goal and the Swiss had yet to concede a shot when they doubled their lead on the first power play of the game in the 11th minute.
Josi had time and space to pick his spot, sending the puck over the goalie’s shoulder into the top corner for his second goal of the Games.
Italy registered two shots in the opening period while, at the other end, goaltender Clara continued to shine in Milan, pulling off some impressive saves having faced 18 shots before the interval.
After a scoreless second period, Italy were left shorthanded in the third and the Swiss took all of five seconds to capitalise, with Hischier slotting home Damien Riat’s pass from behind the goal.
Across Milan at Santagiulia Arena, Germany thrashed France 5-1 and will meet Slovakia in Wednesday’s quarter-finals.
The Czech Republic play Denmark and Sweden face Latvia in Tuesday’s other playoff games.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare Fallon)
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