Piatta from a sharp angle, pad save Yeremeyev.

Now a low shot goes right on Yeremeyev, who covers.

Braun the wrister, kicked out by Yeremeyev.

Now Yeremeyev another save and he covers it.

Puck deflects out of play, faceoff back at centre ice.

Play in the neutral zone now, as neither team seems to want to risk the point in the bank.

Kazakhstan back at full strength, Hospelt fires wide from the slot.

A shot is blocked and the Kazakhs clear the zone.

Braun a big slapper from the point wide.

Mauer a low slapper through traffic, deflected to the corner.

Germans buzzing early in the power play, Yeremeyev makes a save and covers.

Kazakhstan trying to get some offence going, move the puck around the zone, a shot from Polishuk goes wide and Zepp covers the rebound off the end boards.

Semyonov takes a wrister through traffic, deflected wide.

Germans never really get the power play going, now it's over but they've got the puck in the Kazakh zone now, nice defensive play by Maxim Semyonov.

Kazakhs send the puck the length of the ice again, Germans regroup.

Wrister from the point by Braun deflects wide.

Hospelt with a shot right off the draw, save Yeremeyev and he covers.

Icing Kazakhstan.

Mauer with a one-timer from the slot, blocked. Kazakhstan go back the other way.

Now a slapper from Marcus Kink is right on Yeremeyev, who covers.

Panshin the long wrister, caught and held by Zepp.

Offside Kazakhstan.

Now Gavrilin with a long wrister, right on Zepp, who holds on.

Pushkaryov again, blocker save Zepp. Kazahstan finally hitting the net with their shots.

Puck out of play, faceoff at centre ice.

Matthias Plachta with a nice individual effort, tries to stuff it in the short side but Yeremeyev gives him no room.

At the other end, a shot by Barta deflects out of play.

Nik Antropov with the first shot of the 3rd period, off Zepp and out of play. Faceoff in the German zone.

Wrister from Oppenheimer is right on Yeremeyev, who holds on.

Puck out of play in the German zone, faceoff inside.

Barta to Schutz for the one-timer and another glove save for Vitali Yeremeyev.

Noebels with a wrister from the boards, caught and held by Yeremeyev.

Icing Kazakhstan.

Icing Germany.

Now Starchenko fires a wrister high.

Now Barta the low wrister, stick save Yeremeyev. The momentum seems to have swung back to Germany again.

Oppenheimer the wrister, blocker save Yeremeyev.

Draisaitl with the wrister right on Yeremeyev, who holds on.

The puck deflects out of play in the German zone, faceoff inside.

At the other end, Mauer blasts a shot wide.

Icing Kazakhstan.

Offside Kazakhstan, as they just couldn't hold it in at the point. It was close.

Konstantin Pushkarov leads a rush, takes a high wrister that Zepp juggles but holds onto for a faceoff.

Now the Germans ice it, which will kill off the rest of the penalty.

Puck goes out of play in the German zone, faceoff inside with :42 left in the penalty.

Dallman's low shot from the point is deflected wide.

Icing Germany. They were on their heels to start that period.

Kazakhstan with the early pressure this period, but not getting shots through.

Puck deflected out of play in the neutral zone, faceoff at centre ice.

Constantin Braun with a couple of shots from the point, Yeremeyev stops them both and finally covers it. Kazakhstan is back at full strength.

Now a shot deflects over the net, comes back and Yeremeyev covers it. 1:02 left in the penalty.

Oppenheimer with a wrister, pad save Yeremeyev.

Offside Germany.

Germans trying to re-apply pressure, but not getting many shots through. Finally the puck slides to Yeremeyev and he covers it.

Franz Mauer with a high wrister from the point, Yeremeyev gets a blocker on it.

Puck out of play in the German zone, faceoff outside.

Germany with a rush, but Hordler's shot is deflected out of play. Faceoff in the Kazakhstan zone.

Icing Germany.

Puck deflects into the benches, faceoff at centre ice.

Roman Starchenko again, his shot is partially blocked and slides harmlessly to Zepp, who covers.

Noebels attempts a long wrister, blocked in front.

Starchenko from a weak angle, pad save Zepp.

Puck out of play in the Kazakh zone, faceoff inside.

Kazakhstan get back to full strength, Yeremeyev makes a blocker save.

Kazakhs clear it the length of the ice, Germans still without a shot on the PP.

Starchenko leads a shorthanded rush and gets a shot, save Zepp and Germany starts back.

Icing Kazakhstan.

Now Kevin Dallman flips a long shot from the blueline, easily caught and held by Rob Zepp in the German goal, his first save of the game.

Marcel Noebels fires a shot just wide.

Now a wrister from Yannic Seidenberg from the left wing, right on Yeremeyev, who covers it again.

Germany's Felix Schutz gets the game's first shot on goal, then crashes heavily into the end boards. He gets up and seems to be ok. Yeremeyev covers the puck.

Puck deflected out of play in the Kazakhstan zone, faceoff inside.

And yet another icing call against Kazakhstan ... 3 icings already and we're not even half a minute in.

Now icing against Kazakhstan, so both teams called for icing in the early going.

Germany whistled for icing right off the opening faceoff.

The teams are on the ice and the game will start shortly.

Kazakhstan is designated as the home team and is wearing light blue uniforms with silver, gold and white trim, blue pants and helmets. Germany is designated as the visiting team and is wearing white uniforms with black, red and yellow trim, black pants and helmets.

Starting Lineups:

Kazakhstan: Yeremeyev (Ivanov) – Litvinenko, Dallman, Savchenko, Lakiza, Vasilchenko, Kazantsev, Semyonov, Blokhin – Starchenko, Krasnoslobodtsev, Antropov – Upper, Pushkaryov, Romanov – Zhailauov, Polishuk, Gavrilin – Panshin, Spiridonov, Rakhmanov. Coach:. Ari-Pekka Selin.

Germany: Zepp (Grubauer) – Ankert, Braun, Kohl, Hordler, Krüger, Akdag, Müller – Mauer, Barta, Schütz – Hospelt, Oppenheimer, Nöbels – Kink, Seidenberg, Pietta – Plachta, Weiss, Draisaitl – Rieder. Coach: Pat Cortina.

Referees: Rantala (FIN), Šindler (CZE) – Dahmén (SWE), Valach (SVK).

This is the first game for both of these games at this year's World Championship. Kazakhstan is returning to the top group after being promoted from Division I Group A last year, while Germany finished 9th in last year's tournament, barely missing the quarterfinals.

Kazakhstan's lineup is made up largely of KHL players, mostly for Barys Astana. One interesting name is defenceman Kevin Dallman, who played this past season for SKA St Petersburg. Dallman is Canadian and played briefly in the NHL for Boston and Los Angeles, but has spent the past several years in the KHL and gained Kazakh citizenship.

Germany's roster is made up mostly of DEL players, with a few players from other European leagues. They don't have any NHL players but they do have two from the AHL -- forwards Tobias Reiter and Marcel Noebels -- and one from Canadian junior hockey -- Leon Draisaitl of the Western Hockey League's Prince Albert Raiders, who also played in the World Junior Championships this season for Germany.

Welcome. This game starts at 12:45 EEST local time in Minsk, 11:45 CEST in Germany, 15:45 ALMT in Kazakhstan.