Ottawa, Dec 31 (AP) Maxim Strbak scored 2:55 into overtime to lead Slovakia to a 5-4 win over Kazakhstan at the world junior hockey championship.

Slovakia hled a 4-2 lead with less than five minutes remaining in regulation and Kazakh forward Asanali Sarkenov was assessed a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking Slovak forward Frantisek Dej.

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Kazakhstan scored twice while short-handed, sending the game into overtime. Davlat Nurkenov scored at 16:37 of the third period and Kirill Lyapunov tied it with just 29 seconds left.

Dalibor Dvorsky and Juraj Pekarcik each scored twice for Slovakia, which twice held a three-goal lead. Goaltender Samuel Urban allowed four goals on 17 shots.

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Sarkenov and Artur Gross also scored for Kazakhstan. Vladimir Nikitin, a prospect with the Ottawa Senators, made 37 saves, including four in OT, for Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan earned its first point in the tournament after opening with two lopsided losses, moving ahead of last-place Switzerland in Group B. The teams meet Tuesday with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line on the final day of preliminary round action.

Slovakia finished the preliminary round with five points on a regulation win, an overtime win and two losses. The Slovaks were guaranteed to finish third in Group B and advance to the quarterfinals.

In Group A, Latvia secured a berth in the quarterfinal round by beating Germany 4-3 in overtime.

Eriks Mateiko had two goals for Latvia, including the winner at 3:23 of OT. Bruno Osmanis and Olivers Murnieks also scored.

Simon Seidl, Edwin Tropmann and David Lewandowski scored for Germany. (AP)

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