Slovenia dominated the beginning but Ukraine came back with three power-play goals.

“Ukraine didn’t give up, they kept pushing. We have to give them credit for their power play which is really good. We have to play better on the penalty kill and get less penalties,” said Bostjan Golicic.

It was a lopsided start for his team. Slovenia dictated the play in the first period and it never looked like they would lose the game after a 2-0 first-period lead with a 15-4 shot-on-goal advantage.

The Slovenes opened the scoring at 12:12. Anze Kuralt kept the Ukrainian defence busy on the right side and passed to Miha Stebih, who went unnoticed on the left side and beat Sergi Gaiduchenko for the opening goal.

A few minutes after the goal Ukraine got its first power play but the biggest chance came after Olexander Materukhin’s giveaway. Jan Mursak, too fast for the Ukrainian defence, left for a breakaway but didn’t bring the puck past Gaiduchenko.

The Slovenes continued to put pressure on the Ukrainian net. Ziga Pance missed one opportunity when he was blocked from converting a centering pass but Jan Urbas had more luck at 18:09 when he skated toward the net and sent off a perfect shot into the top-right corner.

The second period started like the opening frame. The Slovenian pace was too much for the yellow-and-blue team that was assessed two penalties after less than three minutes of play. But then Ales Music missed the puck during a shot and hit an opponent. The Ukrainians capitalized on the high-sticking penalty when Andri Mikhnov deflected Yuri Navarenko’s shot from the blueline at 6:57.