BRATISLAVA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Germany's tremendous finish turned the tables against Slovakia late in the third period to upset the hosts 3-2 in the Group A battle at the Ice Hockey World Championships on Wednesday night.

Slovakia did not start their key match of the preliminary stage very well and Germany's Marc Michaelis capitalized on a great pass through traffic to open the score early in the second period. The host country of the ice hockey worlds responded with two powerplay goals by Andrej Sekera and Libor Hudacek to take over the 2-1 lead.

Germany gambled everything with three minutes to go and pulled their goalie. Their risk was rewarded with a tying goal by Marcus Eisenschmid and with 30 seconds left to play, the Steel Arena in Kosice was stunned by Leon Draisaitl's quick wrister from behind a defender that concluded Germany's 3-2 turnaround and left the home team and its fans disheartened.

After their third consecutive loss, the Slovaks will have to rely on their Group A opponents to help them advance to the playoffs. They will face off against France on Friday. Germany is leading Group A with 12 points with a clear path to the quarterfinals and will battle Canada on Saturday.