PROVO, Utah ? Andreas Loth scored with 1:14 to play as surprising Germany moved into position to advance to the medal round of men's Olympic hockey, beating Austria 3-2 Sunday night.
Germany, which beat Slovakia 3-0 Saturday, blew a two-goal lead and was badly outplayed in the final two periods, but Marc Seliger's goaltending and Loth's heady backhand goal saved the game.
Austria outshot Germany 26-10 after the first period. Only Seliger, who will keep his starting job if injured Olaf Kolzig is unable to play in the next round, kept Germany from squandering the momentum it gained with its upset of Slovakia.
Seliger, from the German League, stopped all 16 Austrian shots in the third, including two astonishing stick saves while prone on the ice.
On the winning goal, Canadian-born Mark MacKay won a faceoff for Germany. The puck squirted free to Loth, whose shot hit Austrian goalie Reinhard Divis' arm and tumbled slowly over the goal line.
If Germany advances, Edmonton wing Jochen Hecht and Detroit defenseman Uwe Krupp are expected to join the team. But Germany likely will be without Kolzig, who has a strained knee ligament and didn't play Saturday for Washington.
Austria, which lost 4-2 to Latvia Saturday night, essentially lost any chance to advance in a quest for its first hockey medal. Germany wraps up preliminary round play against Latvia Tuesday.
The top team from each of the two groups advances to the medal round.
Germany scored just 81 seconds in when Klaus Kathan, taking advantage of the elimination of the red line during the Olympics, received a 60-foot pass from Leonard Soccio at Austria's blue line for a breakaway. Soccio made it 2-0 with a wrist shot from the slot later in the period.
Gerald Ressman scored on a power play for Austria, and defenseman Gerhard Unterluggauer tied it four seconds before the end of the second period while an Austrian player skated into Seliger, knocking him to the ground.