Czechs advance in men’s hockey with 3-2 overtime win over Latvia; Jagr leaves with injury

Jagr injured in Czech 3-2 OT hockey win vs Latvia

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — David Krejci scored 5:10 into overtime, lifting the Czech Republic to a 3-2 win over Latvia on Tuesday night and into the men’s Olympic hockey quarterfinals.

The Czechs advanced to play Finland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

They played much of the game without their best player, Jaromir Jagr, who has an upper-body injury. It was his first game back since getting flattened by Russia’s Alex Ovechkin on Sunday.

The Czech Republic took a 2-0 lead midway through the first period on goals from Tomas Rolinek and Tomas Fleischmann. Mikelis Redlihs and Martins Cipulis tied the game in the third period.

Tomas Vokoun made 24 saves for the Czechs. Latvia’s Edgars Masalskis stopped 47 shots.

In the 10-minute overtime — 5 minutes longer than the extra session was in the preliminary round — Latvia had chances to pull off perhaps the biggest upset at the Olympics since Belarus beat Sweden in the 2002 quarterfinals.

But the Czechs took advantage of an opportunity to win the game and eliminate the Latvians.

Fleischmann started the game-winning play with a drop pass to Krejci, who faked a shot to create just enough space against defenseman Oskars Bartulis to get a wrist shot off that got to the back of the net.

As the Czechs celebrated, Masalskis pressed his facemask on the ice, agonizing about coming so close to a huge upset.

Without the goaltender, though, the Latvians wouldn’t have had a shot to even stay close.

Masalskis was simply spectacular at times, making saves with his skates, stick and hip as he sprawled from post to post to turn away a barrage of shots.

He didn’t have to worry about Jagr much.

Jagr was on the ice for seven shifts in the first period and seemed to be just fine. But he played for just 52 seconds in the second period, stretching his neck on the bench before going back toward the dressing room, and did not join his teammates for the third.

The Czechs, who won bronze at the Turin Games, need Jagr to return to improve their chances of beating the defending silver medalist Finns.