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Posted: Sun February 8, 1998 at 7:52 a.m EST Slovakia 4, Italy 3 -------------------Vlastimil Plavucha sandwiched two of his three goals around Robert Petrovicky's go-ahead tally early in the second period as Slovakia defeated Italy , 4-3, in Group A action at the Winter Olympics in Nagano. The victory sends Slovakia , which awaits the arrival of six NHL players, into a showdown with Kazakhstan . The two teams, each with 1-0-1 records, meet Tuesday and the winner will advance to the championship round. Italy dropped to 0-2-0 and was eliminated from championship-round contention. The Italians took a 2-1 lead on first-period goals by Stefan Figliuzzi and Dino Felicetti, but Slovakia scored three times in a 2:13 span early in the second period. Plavucha tied the score with his second goal of the game at the 1:23 mark and Petrovicky notched his second in two games 37 seconds later. Plavucha completed the hat trick at 3:36, giving Slovakia a 4-2 lead. Mario Chitaroni pulled Italy within a goal, scoring with 47 seconds left in the second period, but Slovakia n goalie Igor Murin stopped the other 16 shots he faced in the final two periods. Slovakia , the pre-tournament favorite to advance from Group A, struggled to a 2-2 tie with Austria Saturday. With high-scoring forwards Peter Bondra (Washington Capitals), Zigmund Palffy (New York Islanders) and Josef Stumpel (Los Angeles Kings) among those NHL stars who will be in uniform for Tuesday's game, Slovakia is an overwhelming favorite to defeat Kazakhstan . Italy concludes preliminary-round play Tuesday against Austria .
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